Today, 10,000 students, across five districts in Westchester NY, are subject to early school closures––some shutting as early as 11am––because President Biden is attending a private fundraiser this eve at Michael Douglas's house, and there will be road closures. All afterschool programs are also canceled. Tough luck for working parents of young children. They'll have to take a day off of work or find and pay for childcare. Tough luck for high schoolers preparing for regents. Road closure details, including expected blocked access to highways, are not being made public, for security reasons. Residents in at least two villages have been advised to not travel *at all* on roads after 2pm. Unless one wants to roll the dice on traffic jams and road closures, professional and personal engagements, including medical appointments, that require travel within or from the area will have to be canceled. Emergency vehicles are expected to be impacted. Other hosts of the event, beyond Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, include the fashion designer Eileen Fisher. Hosts are paying $100K for the privilege to host. Guests will pay $3,300 to attend. A photo at the event will cost $30,000.
@davidzweig To be fair this occurs for almost every presidential visit going back 15+ years. You need a main route and several secure back-up routes (and this area in question is hemmed in by river and hills). These routes include egress to JFK as well as to a local trauma 1 hospital.
@davidzweig Donald Trump has been similarly responsible. cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/new…
@davidzweig This is an insane amount of disruption to students and the community.
@davidzweig Trump used to shut down a nontrivial portion of Midtown Manhattan every time he visited Trump Tower.
@davidzweig This happened frequently when I was at UCLA... Gotta have those fundraisers!!