THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

It is not just the mayor of New York, but hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers whose daily lives are disrupted by the new Boy-King who is afraid to leave his home that are saying this. Trump Tower, on New York's 5th Avenue, is where he squats as he waits for his coronation. Because he is hated and despised by 2/3rds of America, the security is so heavy that an important section of NYC's shopping heart is blocked off as is the Avenue, a major artery through the center of the city.

All Karen Hendrickson wanted was the latest pocketbook from Gucci, the Sylvie, with a glittering gold chain down the front.

But she had to explain herself over and over to police officers who stopped and questioned her, and searched her shopping bags as she sought to cross Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. She was trying to reach the Gucci flagship store on the corner of 56th Street, but her shopping trip had an unusual impediment: Gucci is inside Trump Tower. Fifty-eight stories above is the penthouse of President-elect Donald J. Trump, who was engaged in the rocky business of selecting his administration.

“I had to be questioned by three different police officers just to get into this store,” said Ms. Hendrickson, 47, who was visiting from South Orange, N.J., the Sylvie at last in her hand. As she mused on Mr. Trump’s being garrisoned in his penthouse apartment, she wondered why he was not preparing in Washington. “This isn’t a Monday-Friday job,” she said. “This is a very serious job, and you need to spend time in the White House.”

“Go to work now!” she added, her frustration eclipsing the fact that the White House is occupied until the end of January.

They came from as far as England, Italy and Mexico and as close by as Harlem to rarefied turf on the Upper East Side, all to take a selfie with Trump Tower’s golden sign in the background. Below it was a snarl of barricades, armored police officers, lead-footed tourists and aggrieved New Yorkers trying to go about their business. Double-decker tour buses crawled along, inching past on an avenue narrowed at points to a single lane by the police, who also scanned from above in a booth atop a cherry-picker.

Tourists and passers-by were given the once-over by a phalanx of bomb-sniffing dogs prowling the sidewalks. At times, impromptu news conferences congealed on the sidewalk or beside the elevator bank inside the rose-colored lobby, as dignitaries and members of Mr. Trump’s transition team came and went.

“I will not tell you that Gucci and Tiffany are my central concerns in life, but I will say the traffic situation is a very real problem,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said as he stood at a lectern on the sidewalk in front of the building, speaking to reporters after leaving an hourlong meeting with Mr. Trump. Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, said he expressed to Mr. Trump, a Republican, that New Yorkers were fearful of the ramifications of his policies.

He could just as easily park his saggy butt up in Westchester or down there in Mar-A-Lago. Actually Florida would be so much better for him. It is warm and the fools voted for him. And the possibility of his getting Zika or Dengue Fever would give the wait a certain piquant charm.