Trump rally at Nassau Coliseum expected to snarl traffic, close schools, businesses early

GOP officials said there have been more than 60,000 requests for tickets to former President Donald Trump's rally Wednesday at Nassau Coliseum, which is expected to snarl traffic and cause several schools and businesses to close early.

The gates to the Coliseum parking lot on Hempstead Turnpike will open at 8 a.m. and only to ticket holders, officials said. The rally will also be played on video monitors outside the Coliseum, which holds about 16,000 people for concert-type events. 

Nassau County officials would not detail any exact road closures.

"We cannot discuss road closures that would give people who might have some kind of bad intent an idea of where the president's motorcade will be operating," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said during a news conference Tuesday. "So we will not give any information other than the fact that Hempstead Turnpike is the only entrance point for the Nassau Veterans Coliseum."

Blakeman said he was not aware of any closures planned on Hempstead Turnpike.

The parking lot and perimeter was planned to be closed Tuesday night while the property was secured by the U.S. Secret Service and Nassau County police, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.

"Every inch of that property, and that perimeter is as large as we need to make it, we will make sure that it is safe and it will be swept," Ryder said Tuesday. "We will have aviation over top during the arrival and during the time of the event, and we will also have our K-9 dogs out in the wooded areas, and we've already started those sweeps today."

The event comes just days after the FBI said Trump was the target of what "appears to be an attempted assassination" at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, allegedly camped outside the golf club for 12 hours, accused of lying in wait for the former president with an SKS-style rifle, according to authorities. A Secret Service agent opened fire and thwarted the attack, officials said. Routh is charged with possessing a firearm while having a felony conviction and of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Trump was also the target of an assassination attempt on July 13 during an outdoor rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.

Closures and other changes for the area

Colleges, residents and employees of businesses across from the Coliseum along Hempstead Turnpike are bracing for any road closures.

Kellenberg High School, a private Catholic school located directly across from the Coliseum, announced it would be closed for the day.

Nassau Community College has canceled classes after 2 p.m. and Hofstra University officials said the "campus will be fully operational" but classes after 1 p.m. will be remote.

"For young people today, this is a new experience for them to witness a rally of this magnitude so close to where they go to college," said Jerry Kornbluth, NCC’s vice president for community and government relations. "Because we are a commuter school, we are closing for the safety of students."

The Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, which has endorsed Trump, said it will join with “hundreds of law enforcement officers” from the region at a pre-rally at 2 p.m. in the NCC parking lot.

Nearby Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, located on the Coliseum property, will remain open, officials said. 

Employees at several businesses along the corridor said they were concerned about getting to and from their jobs. Many managers, who didn’t want to give their names, told Newsday they were only told on Tuesday morning about the road closures and were closing for the afternoon.

Liz Mateo, 65, was lamenting the traffic nightmare to an employee at the Starbucks coffee shop across from the Coliseum on Tuesday.

Mateo, who lives in the neighborhood behind the Starbucks, said "it’s going to be crazy."

"We just had that cricket event, and it was murder for everyone who lives around here," Mateo told Newsday. "They took over our street parking and we couldn’t even get into our own homes. Who wants to deal with this crowd now?"

Cost of the event not detailed

Nassau police spokesman Lt. Scott Skrynecki said in an email that any overflow crowd will be able to watch the rally on screens set up outside the arena. Police do not know how large the overflow crowd will be, but the Coliseum parking lot will remain open until it reaches a capacity the county fire marshal says is “not acceptable,” Skrynecki said.

County officials have not detailed the cost of holding the event, noting only that the Trump campaign is paying to host the event at the Coliseum. Additional costs, such as Nassau County police resources, were not disclosed.

Blakeman said the county is used to hosting large events including the World Cup T20 cricket tournament at Eisenhower Park in June, as well as a visit by the Dalai Lama to UBS Arena in Elmont and a planned visit this weekend by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Well, Team Trump is paying for the Coliseum ... They're paying for all of those items that they need to run a show, as anybody would run a show, and the rally is like a production," Blakeman said. "With respect to the police assets, we do this all the time ... We don’t put price tags on protecting presidential candidates and foreign dignitaries and the general public. That's something that we budget for."

With AP