President Trump could end up living on Barack H. Obama Ave. after he leaves office.
A MoveOn petition to rename the stretch of Fifth Ave. in front of Trump Tower to Barack H. Obama Ave. has gathered more than 140,000 signatures by Wednesday afternoon. The petition originally stated it would be delivered to Mayor de Blasio once the number reached 125,000, but that’s since been amended to a “new goal” of 150,000.
“We request the stretch of Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets be renamed ‘President Barack H. Obama Avenue.’ Any addresses on that stretch of Fifth Avenue should be changed accordingly,” reads the online petition.
It notes that in May, Los Angeles named a stretch of highway after former President Obama, whom the petition credits for “saving our nation from the Great Recession; serving two completely scandal-free terms in office; and taking out Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind September 11th, which killed over 3,000 New Yorkers.”
Trump Tower, the 58-floor skyscraper the president called home before moving to Washington, D.C., in 2017, was open for business in 1983 at 725 Fifth Ave. The Trumps maintain a residency there.
The city has a policy of only naming streets after people who have already died, which the petition’s creator, Elizabeth Rowan, sees as more of a speed bump than a dead end.
“I am sure the conditions can be changed,” she told Newsweek Monday shortly after launching her initiative.
The president, a Queens native who relocated to Manhattan as an adult, remains unpopular in much of his hometown. In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton won Manhattan by getting 86% of the vote. Fewer than 10% of Manhattan’s voters came out for Trump. Trump did a little better in Queens, where he got 22% of the vote to Clinton’s 75%.
De Blasio, who’s running for president and polling around 1%, told Buzzfeed in late July that Trump wouldn’t be welcome if he moves back to Fifth Ave. — or maybe Barack H. Obama Ave. — after his presidency ends.
“He doesn’t understand New York City,” de Blasio said. “And when his presidency is over, really soon, he will not be welcome back in New York City.”
A Sienna poll taken in June showed 65% of New Yorkers want to see “someone else” in the White House.
