Trump’s Visits Ground Business at Small New Jersey Airports

"Mr. Fritsche, who was a politically active Republican and a Trump supporter, said, “I’m sure that if the president was aware of the impact, and that there was a solution, he’d negotiate a way we could all survive.” I'm sure he's not aware of it. That being said, there are multiple solutions, including him saving taxpayer funds and not going to his clubs every weekend. But if you think he's gonna lift a finger to help you or anyone else...well, we've been trying to warn you about him, sir, and you haven't listened, so now you can deal with the consequences.

Oh please. Where was the outrage when Obama's visits to Hawaii virtually shut down private/recreational aviation on the entire island of Oahu, or when his visits to Chicago had the same effect on local airports there? This is not a phenomenon unique to Trump - TFRs have been in effect for ALL presidents for years. But the news coverage starts now?

Bill C. ties up Airlines in LAX for a haircut, Al Gore came home at 4 O'clock every Friday and blocked traffic for an hour. Hussein when on the road and they put a moving TFR in effect. They all do it. Secret Service does its thing, we have not lost a President flying are left one up there yet.

Well, heck, let’s do ANYTHING to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Including selling America out to PUTIN !!! A perfectly fine thing to do according to FOX News...

I won't bore you with pilot tales of TFR experiences since 9/11. Rather, I'd suggest that, if there is a resolution of this subject, it is legislative. Only if Congress can be convinced that the Secret Service is overreaching with its TFR rules, that it is failing adequately to balance the legitimate needs of the public against the President's security, only then is there any likelihood of change.

If he would just spend a weekend in the White House once in a while this wouldn't be a problem. But tehn, selling your country to the enemy is stressful work, so I am sure none of us can fault him for wanting a bit of Me-Me-Me time.

Mr. Gomez of the Essex County Airport says "the flight restrictions and the Secret Service easy to work with", but he is looking at the problem from a very narrow perspective. Yes, if you want to fly your plane away from NJ by the shortest possible route from inside the 30 mile circle, you can do that. However, that's a small part of the overall aviation world. At Blairstown airport, 26 or so miles from Trump's golf course, we are 100% completely shut down for our business. We provide flight training in gliders, and scenic rides along the local mountains, and these functions are banned with no exceptions. Our business "prime time" is summer and weekends, and so we loose nearly 100% of that with each visit. We are shut down this weekend, and have already received notice that we will be shut down again next weekend. Try telling your land lords, loan officers and insurance companies that they won't be paid because of the president's frequent visits - it doesn't work. We've tried working with the FAA and Secret Service to no avail. The real problem is that he insists on visiting the same locations over and over at frequent intervals. The simple solution is just spreading out the love - visit NJ once or twice, visit FL once or twice, then try Las Vegas or any of hundreds of other luxury golfing spots.

As I recall Trump was unrelenting in bashing Obama for playing golf and the occasional weekend jaunt while he was in office. Just a bit hypocritical that now every weekend Trump's private jaunts to his golf courses are understandably causing havoc as outlined in this article. And it sounds like a majority of his supporters are being effected. Just wait until Putin comes to the US and Trump invites him to his golf course. Poetic justice.

Maybe these businesses can sue Trump.

So much for caring about the little guys. Playing golf is tops for our baby donnie. He cares only for himself. Hopefully some of the people hurt by this who voted for trump will maybe think about this for a few minutes before going back to Fox news where all is great and good.

All Presidents should just suck it up for four years, take a vacation every summer in one place so that local residents and businesses can plan, and the rest of the time spend their weekends at the White House or Camp David where they live like Kings as it is, and if they want to play golf, do it close to DC, in Virginia and Maryland, and at courses near wherever they go for their annual summer vacations. The Trump Family is already breaking the bank for the taxpayers with all their travels and residences around the world, must they also be permitted to bankrupt scores or hundreds of businesses of the little guy/gal everywhere they go in the process?

Wouldn't it be nice for Trump to stay in Washington DC more and stop costing the taxpayers ridiculous amounts of money flying to New Jersey so frequently. Just a thought.

Does Putin play golf? If he did I suppose another quick jaunt to NJ is always a possibility...

The TFR for Morristown is in effect for only 90 minutes on 20Jul18, and 60 minutes on 22Jul18. If your business can't survive a 60 minute delay, you don't deserve to be in business.

Echo chamber is on full. Notice that EVERY post is anti-Trump? This is why no one outside of the Echo chamber pays any attention to NYT.

Sorry, but Putin's poodle doesn't care.

"If only the president knew he would do something about it" He is well aware I live and fly here in South Florida, where the Lantana airport suffers the same closures in the wintertime. Trump has a long history of fighting with Palm Beach County about commercial airline flights, etc. over Mar-A-Lago prior to his presidency. Of course, he sued them (and lost). Lantana's helicopter school, banner towing business, and several others went out of business. Trump was specifically asked about providing relief for this situation and pointedly said "no", because, being Trump, he viewed as an opportunity to give a middle finger to the county. HE DOES NOT CARE about the small businesses that he is disrupting. Lest anyone believe that this is inconveniencing a bunch of rich 'amateur pilots', I'd point out that that I had to work two jobs and make many sacrifices to afford my own training to become a commercial pilot. There is now a shortage of pilots for the airlines, and putting flight schools and other related businesses in a bind is adding to a very serious national problem. I assure you, the president couldn't care less.

The sooner we rid ourselves of this dreadful man the better off we will all be.Wherever he goes he stains the people and the environs with his noxious stink.I'm waiting for Puerto Rico to sue him and congress for gross neglect if not manslaughter.He is threatening our national parks,endangered species and the world with idiotic antics.Surely his "base"can't overlook his treason and empty claims that their lives will improve...the proof is right in front of them.

So happy to finally see an article on this. I fly out of Essex County and while the TFR is a minor inconvenience to me, it does represent the loss of substantial income for those who have aviation businesses or work in aviation. Flight instruction is severely curtailed when President Trump is at Bedminster. Your article touched on some of the other aviation related businesses that are affected and the summer is when they make most of their money since the weather is good for flying or anything aviation related. While I'm sure the Secret Service tries to work with the affected stakeholders you can see their prevailing attitude. "It's our sky". No one, by the way, is suggesting that Presidents shouldn't be protected. That said, we have other examples near Washington DC of airports that are almost always within restricted airspace where security concerns were successfully meshed with general and commercial aviation needs. In College Park, Maryland, for example, pilots are interviewed and, once registered, provided with a simple mechanism for identification and ability to take-off, land or simply stay within the perimeter of the airport. Some of these procedures could be used to eliminate the financial burden placed on these aviation businesses and still provide an excellent security environment. There's no reason the Secret Service couldn't setup a series of meetings to register pilots, flight instructors and the like for summer operations.

“I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done,” Trump told The Hill in 2015. “I would not be a president who took vacations. I would not be a president that takes time off.” While campaigning for the presidency in 2016, Trump said to the American people: “I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.” https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-trump-travel-costs/ Hail to Snake Oiler-Prevaricator-Hypocrite-Birther-Liar-Russian Stooge-Charlatan-In-Chief. D to go forward; R for a cesspool of lying, greed, corruption, self-serving sociopathy.

Airports shutting down because of Trump? In his mind it just proves how powerful and important he is. Expecting a solution to be forthcoming is wishful thinking.

This problem has had a major impact on the Lantana County Airport inside the “10 mile ring” around Trump’s Mar-a-lago property in West Palm Beach. Several business that have done business there for decades have closed due to the relentless closings during the most profitable time of year for South Florida Aviation businesses. While reimbursement is one way to mitigate the damage, it can’t replace the presence of the businesses that the aviation community relies on to support these local economies. As properly reported, the Secret Service has a tin ear on this subject. They are completely unwilling to negotiate a settlement to keep these businesses from the assault. Mr. Trump has battled the FAA to move the flight path of Palm Beach International airport and prevent it from allowing traffic departing PBI to overfly his property. He finally has what he has wanted for more than a decade, so there is NO chance he will intervene. He will allow the small businesses to wither and die. The people around the Bedford NJ area better look elsewhere for a savior.

But Trump ALWAYS gets to go to the head of the line--just let the folks in New Jersey ask the Prime Minister of Montenegro, whom Trump rudely shoved out of the way for the NATO "family photo" in 2017, or Queen Elizabeth, ahead of whom Trump peacocked during his recent visit to the UK. After all, as Brett Kavanaugh appears to believe, Presidents are just too busy with important stuff to be bothered with anything silly like answering to charges of crimes or misdemeanors, and thus presumably also anything as insignificant as undermining small business people in New Jersey. Hail to the King. Trump First!

Nonsense, none of those other presidents vacationed 3 days a week, every week, and none of them profited off their own vacations. “People are politicizing it into a negative issue, but this has been the case with every president — Obama, Clinton, Bush, everybody,” said Mr. Gomez, a retired Air Force pilot. “If Congress wants to change the rules and let people fly wherever they want, that’s different. But for now, the rules are there for a reason.”

“People are politicizing it into a negative issue, but this has been the case with every president — Obama, Clinton, Bush, everybody,” said Mr. Gomez, a retired Air Force pilot. The difference, of course, is that Clinton, Bush, and Obama didn't take vacations every weekend. Trump has been the laziest president in modern history. When he isn't in bed, eating McDonald's and watching TV, he's on the golf course.

Trump damages everything he's involved with, and he doesn't care one iota! It's all about him, all the time. If some small businesses go under, what does he care? He never cared about this in any other context (when he was a private citizen) and he certainly doesn't care now! But frankly President Golf should try to stay in DC and get some actual productive work done - oh, never mind, he thinks he was elected to go golfing at taxpayer expense every weekend...

You reap what you sow. You support him and voted for him. Oh, and yeah sure, he’ll fix it as soon as he reads about it in the enemy of the state failing NYT as he calls it. Hahaha.

Didn't Trump say he'd be so busy-unlike that golfing slug Obama- that he'd never have time to leave the White House? Sad.

Protection the president - any president, not just Trump - has evolved into a massive, at times seemingly unruly, complexity. Is some of it overkill? Whether in the air or on the ground (i was held up several times under Obama as well when he would come to NYC for a dinner at someone's house or "date night".) Doubtless, yes, though one must acknowledge the difficult task confronting the Secret Service. Given the threats in the world, it may not be possible in 2018 to substantially lessen these inconveniences. Overlooked in this article, though, is how this attitude is pervading lower level entities as well, and not just at the federal level. Security "packages", armored limos, guys in suits with earpieces, have become a status prize to many. It often seems bizarre when SCOTUS members get virtually zero security and some mid-level government WH aide or cabinet member gets an entourage. And then locally - pols like DeBlasio shuttle around like they're the potentate, including government planes. Even going on vacation, as when DeBlasio has gone to Europe with a security detail. Seriously? Half the people in NYC wouldn't recognize him in the street let alone someone in another country. But ego reins supreme and costs us dearly.

Were Mr. Trump not so selfish, he could forgo these trips to New Jersey and golf at his course in Northern Virginia. But outside of empty political rhetoric, he hasn't exactly been known for his concern for the little guy. The king of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will not bother himself about those he drives out of business on his weekend jaunts.

"Mr. Fritsche, who was a politically active Republican and a Trump supporter, said, “I’m sure that if the president was aware of the impact, and that there was a solution, he’d negotiate a way we could all survive.”" keep telling yourself that. he's deeply concerned about the little guy, just ask the hundreds of small businesses that Trump has stiffed over the years, i'm sure they'll agree.

This seems utterly ridiculous. The president of the United States is sworn to protect and defend its citizens. Instead, his personal pleasures drive them out of business and destroy their livelihoods. I hope my representative supports Leonard Lance's legislative actions for compensation. But better still would be a president whose over-elaborate secret police - oops, secret service - would simply not accommodate this interference in the necessary activities of the citizens. Instead, the pre-teen in the Oval Office could stay there and do his homework, as in reviewing national security briefings before meetings with Putin.