It probably feels like elite parking only for one D.C. neighborhood as the Obamas and Ivanka Trump's family, along with their security detail, have put the squeeze on spots that were already hard to come by.
Before the family of former president Barack Obama moved into the Kalorama neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C. followed by first daughter Ivanka Trump, husband Jared Kushner and their family, it was already the home of other political figures, foreign embassies – and very limited parking opportunities, The Washington Post reported.
With their arrival has come street and sidewalk closures, sizable security detail, and whole new crunch for parking, stated the newspaper.
"Finding places to park has gotten increasingly worse," Ellen Goldstein, a member of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, told the Post. "That obviously adds a great deal of stress to the residents who use street parking. It is a struggle."
Marietta Robinson, who lives across the street from the Kushners, has complained to city officials to what she described as an unusually large and aggressive security presence, The Associated Press reported. Robinson said Ivanka Trump usually arrives and departs in a four-vehicle motorcade, the news service noted.
"There are more of them than I have ever seen," Robinson wrote in a letter to Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and other city officials. "Frequently several of them are milling outside of the house at all hours having conversations and staring meanly at anyone in view."
The AP wrote that the neighborhood has gotten more congested with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently buying there and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson moving in. While the neighborhood has seen its share of dignitaries, some said the current complaints are connected with Ivanka Trump's arrival, according to the Post.
"I say that’s ridiculous," Goldstein told the Post, rejecting the charge of partisan complaining. "There are no red spaces, there are no blue spaces, there are only D.C. spaces. Parking is a nonpartisan issue."
Then there is the nearby Islamic Center of Washington, the city's largest mosque, where hundreds attend prayer services five times a day, the Post said. Mosque spokesman Abassie Jarr-Koroma told the newspaper they feel like they have been unfairly singled out for parking enforcement in the neighborhood.
"We have been here longer than most people and we can't park in our neighborhood," Jarr-Koroma said to the Post. "The Russians have parking privileges in our block. The people in the building across the street, who have underground parking, can park on our street. But we can't park there."
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