ALLWAYS a Real Estate Guy, eh?
And A Flashy one at That….
With NO ONE to STOP him like anyone would have….
For Mr. Trump, who was a builder for years in New York City and who often brags about his talents in real estate and construction, the White House renovation is a dream project.
Mr. Trump has marveled that he does not need to follow the kind of permitting requirements that he faced back in New York. He doesn’t need approvals from anyone, he has told those around him, and can begin any project at the White House as quickly as he likes.
“‘You’re the president of the United States, you can do anything you want,’” Mr. Trump has said he’s been told.
Mr. Trump has wanted to build a ballroom at the White House for years. During the Obama administration, he pitched the idea of constructing a $100 million version of his Mar-a-Lago ballroom. But Obama associates never followed up on his offer, a slight that has stayed with Mr. Trump.
The ballroom Mr. Trump is planning now is more than four times as large as the 20,000-square-foot one at Mar-a-Lago.
Aware of potential resistance to the project, Mr. Trump has pushed to remove any obstacle that could slow down his vision.
He has installed his former personal lawyer as the chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, which is supposed to review plans for the project. That lawyer, Will Scharf, has said there was no need to review Mr. Trump’s plans before he ordered the demolition of the East Wing.
Mr. Trump has also fired the entire board of the Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that was established by Congress to advise the president on urban planning and historical preservation.
Mr. Trump’s unilateral approach has raised concerns from the Society of Architectural Historians, which urged that “such a significant change to a historic building of this import should follow a rigorous and deliberate design and review process.”
Mr. Trump is aware of the criticism that his ballroom plans are too large. He told a group of donors to the project last month that he didn’t want the new ballroom to “dwarf anything.” But at the same event, in discussing related plans to construct a Triumphal Arch, Mr. Trump showed small, medium and large options.
“I happen to think the large looks by far the best,” he said….
…
The short timetable for the project, which the president has said he wants to be completed before 2029, has led to some embarrassing mistakes.
The various plans released so far, including a rushed model made by a contractor, have included windows that collide into each other and a staircase to nowhere….
…
The president has said he already raised $350 million from donors, including from major tech and crypto companies, and that businesses pledged to donate all of the steel and air conditioning.
But that payment method means going around Congress to fund the project, cutting legislators out of having any say over its direction….
…
The ballroom project is Mr. Trump’s latest push to remake the White House in his own image….
…
A White House official said that a large-scale renovation of the West Wing was not currently under consideration, but that Mr. Trump would be making more changes….
Note….
I AM among those who hope that next president comes in and TEARS DOWN the Trump ‘ballroom’ and rebuild’s a Better East Wing in the style of the one that was rthere before Donald tried to outdo history ….
image…Daily Herald
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.