We have received lots of questions about the barricades that have been placed in the high-70’s and low-80’s from Amtserdam Avenue to the park. Parking has been banned on numerous blocks, and security is suddenly very tight near the Museum of Natural History. A source we trust tells us that it’s because President Obama is coming to the area to have dinner between 5 and 8 p.m. tonight. That’s also the rumor that we had heard from an employee at Pizzeria Uno last night.
We have no official word on it — city officials so far have only acknowledged that the president will be in the Prospect Park area for much of the day — so take this info for what it’s worth. But given the heightened security it certainly makes sense. And the president’s official schedule does mention that he’s going to private residences for a DCCC event at 7 and a DNC event at 8:10.
Anyway, it would make a lot of sense to stay out of the area, particularly if you’re driving.
let’s hope he isn’t going to pizzeria uno–we can do a lot better on the UWS!
Hey, how come we weren’t invited?
Maybe Pizzeria Uno is just right for a Chicago guy.
I also saw signs on Amsterdam around 80th Street for a Monday taping of the Michael J Fox show… very busy couple of blocks!
Maybe he’s gonna be on the Michael J Fox show 😉
Shake Shack would be a much better choice
Such a selfish man…
Constantly coming to New York for his entertainment or fundraising, inconveniencing tens of thousands people ..costing the city insane amounts of money for the protection and road closures..
Stay out of the city already!!
Long island and Jersey can host fundraisers too
The most ridiculous thing ever. Entire block in lockdown 7-9pm. No one in or out of any building, even children who want to get home and go to bed. No way to go to dinner or anywhere else. Families split with some in and out of the frozen zone. Hosts expecting guests, but no one at the party, as guests are locked out. Delivery people left stranded at the other side of the barricade and no way to deliver. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in small business revenue lost! For what!??! Ok, rant over.
Re: “Delivery people left stranded at the other side of the barricade and no way to deliver.”
O.M.G. !!! No take-out food deliveries!
It’s the end-of-the-world! We shall all starve!
Aaaarrggghhhhhh!
How frequently does the President of the United States come to the UWS and inconvenience the residents? He was not in New York solely to raise funds. His visit likely meant a lot to the schoolkids he visited just as it would to the kids of the UWS and their parents if he came to their school.
Get over it, living in NYC means inconvenience all of the time, how about endless street fairs which block bus routes throughout the city, movie and TV shoots (especially those with crews who are rude and condescending to the residents, cars, trucks and taxis blocking side street, etc., the parents waiting for their kids blocking the street sidewalk waiting for their kids at the school next me everyday who don’t want to move out of the way despite being asked politely at least once, subway closures, etc.,etc., etc.
agree with you….lighten up kvetchers.
For all of those movie shoots, street closures, UN sessions, etc, there is advance notice given. In this case the only notice was about traffic, which is irrelevant for the 95% of the area population who do not have a car. I don’t appreciate being randomly locked in my building and treated like a criminal. This was an unnecessary indulgence on the part of 1 donor and 1 president. It could have been done anywhere else, including the donor going to the white house, rather than requiring evacuation of a residential building filled with hundreds of people including small and special needs children who got turned out onto the streets. It is 1 thing to stop all movement in DC but entirely another in NYC where there is such high population density of pedestrians. We are supposed to be a nation of equals, not stopping the world for 2 people whenever they feel like it.
“Evacuation of the building” ……did this really happen?
Entirely possible it was overkill – I wasn’t there – but it’s kind of absurd to suggest there should be the same sort of advance notice that the president of the United States is coming to your street as there would be for a taping of a TV show. One is about security for the most powerful person in the world, the other about commercial production of a sitcom.
With the 50th Anniversary of the JFK assassination a few weeks away, the navel gazers should note there is a reason for this security. Sometimes there are people who really do want to kill the president. Get over yourselves.