On days when President Donald Trump hits the links at his private Virginia golf club, the US Coast Guard can expel boaters and paddlers from the Potomac River where it borders the president’s club, authorities have said. Some water lovers are not happy.
One benefit of designating the area as a “permanent security zone” would be that boaters would now know exactly what was off-limits and would be notified of the closures, Coast Guard spokeswoman Lieutenant Amanda Faulkner told the Washington Post.
The Coast Guard has already closed the two-mile stretch of the river next to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling five times since March on an ad hoc basis.
“In a lot of ways this is better for the public, because they have more information,” Faulkner said.
Not everyone agrees, though.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” former marine John Deitle told the Post. He uses a kayaking program for wounded and disabled veterans at Riley’s Lock which would be blocked off under the new policy.
“Granted, it’s his golf course... but he has other golf courses,” said Deitle.
“This is a river-access issue. It’s not a political issue,” Canoe Cruisers Association Chairwoman Susan Sherrod told the Post.
Among a number of complaints from the paddling community, the newspaper also quoted Brett Mayer of the American Canoe Association who said, “We’ll do the best we can with the situation, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world.”
Public comments on the new policy must be submitted by August 9, after that it will be adjusted and the order made final.
The community of boaters and paddlers are not the only ones complaining about the enhanced security measures for Trump and his family.
In March, DC neighbors of Trump’s daughter and White House official Ivanka Trump and her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, complained that the Secret Service was taking up too much of the parking space in their ritzy Kalorama neighborhood.