The King is in town, and New Yorkers have opinions on how he should spend his stay — most of them involving a slice and a subway ride.
King Charles III arrived in New York City this week for his first visit to the five boroughs in nearly two decades, kicking off a tightly choreographed itinerary that includes diplomatic meetings, a stop at the 9/11 Memorial, and the kind of motorcade routing that makes the FDR Drive disappear at rush hour.
The official agenda is heavy on optics and substance: cultural meetings, a courtesy call with the mayor, and a visit to a downtown business roundtable focused on transatlantic investment. The royal couple is expected to spend two days in the city before continuing to Washington.
New Yorkers, predictably, have strong views on what the King should actually see. Pollsters who asked have results that suggest a slice somewhere in Brooklyn, an honest pre-game pretzel cart, and at minimum one ride on the subway between two locations not on the official schedule.
On the security side, the NYPD has rolled out the kind of perimeter that the city only stages for the very top of the visitor list. Locals shrugged and rerouted, as they tend to do.