WASHINGTON — Residents of a posh Washington neighborhood said Ivanka Trump and her family don’t make for very good neighbors, taking up much of the parking on an already crowded street and leaving trash bags at the curb for days. A big part of the complaint: a huge security presence, with even a trip to the playground requiring three vans.
Neighbors of Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their three children have groused that sidewalks have been closed, public parking overrun and that the family and their staff haven’t learned the trash pickup schedule outside their $5.5-million home.
“It has been a three-ring circus from the day that they’ve moved in,” Marietta Robinson, who lives across the street, told with The Associated Press.
The house in the Kalorama neighborhood was bought in December by a company with ties to a Chilean billionaire. The company is renting it to Kushner and Trump, who moved in just after the inauguration of her father, President Donald Trump. Both work in the White House as advisers to the president.
Residents of the enclave of four- and five-story townhomes and elegant single-family properties about 2 miles north of the White House are accustomed to VIP neighbors. Former President Barack Obama and his family have lived there since he left office. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought a home there, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also moved in recently.
Yet no one has raised the ire of the community like the Trumps. At a recent neighborhood commission meeting, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace was among those who showed up to complain about parking problems.
Some in the neighborhood have also complained about the family’s rental arrangement. The company that owns the house didn’t obtain a rental license for two months, securing one just this week after it was warned by city regulators.
“Maybe some of the upset has to do with politics a little. I couldn’t say for sure, but I know that people don’t seem to be upset about Tillerson’s situation. It’s much less intrusive,” said Ellen Goldstein, an elected neighborhood commissioner.
The Secret Service has sole responsibility under law for protecting the family, but neighbors have noticed what they describe as an unusually large and aggressive security presence. Ivanka Trump arrives and departs in a four-vehicle motorcade, Robinson said.
“There are more of them than I have ever seen,” Robinson wrote in a letter to Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials.
The letter — which also complained about parking, trash and noise — spurred the city into action. On Friday morning, transportation crews removed “No Parking” signs from around the house.
