New York probing Trump's closing of Trump Tower atrium for campaign events

[Liberal_in_LA]

New York City is investigating Donald Trump's practice of closing down the public atrium in Trump Tower for presidential campaign events that are off limits to the public.

In order to add more floors than zoning rules would otherwise allow, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, agreed to create a two-story public atrium on the ground and lower floors of the building, which opened in 1983 on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.

But security staff wearing Trump badges spent several hours shooing away a growing crowd of New Yorkers and tourists from the doors on Tuesday morning after Trump decided to hold a news conference in the atrium to discuss his fundraising for veterans groups.

"Department of Building inspectors will be investigating the allegations that the (public atrium) was closed contrary to the building owner's agreement with the city," Joe Soldevere, a department spokesman, told Reuters on Tuesday.

There are scores of "privately owned public spaces," or POPS, throughout New York City, intended as a trade-off between developers who want to build taller and preserving space for the public in the city's densest neighborhoods.

____

In the case of Trump Tower, the 6,000-square-foot public atrium, which is lined with pink marble, must be open to the public between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. every day, a fact advertised in large gold letters over the building's Fifth Avenue entrance.

As with other such spaces, it can be closed up to four times a year for a private event after permission from city officials.

Trump has held several events in the public areas of Trump Tower since launching his campaign in the atrium there last June.

Officials at the Department of City Planning, which grants permission to close a POPS for an event, and the Department of Buildings, which investigates violations, said they had no record of Trump ever seeking or being granted permission to shut out the public for a campaign event.


http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-tower-idUSKCN0YM2O6

[Skittles]

1. his idiotic fans really believe this elitist piece of shit has their backs?

it boggles the mind

[spanone]

7. it truly does.

[TeamPooka]

2. Art of t5he deal: A contract is meant to be broken. #TrumpsRulesortheHighway

[LittleGirl]

3. Rules? What Rules?

Trump is going to make his own rules and we the people just better step in line.

I really despise that bastard.

[malaise]

5. +1,000

Rules do not apply to Trump

[Abouttime]

4. Charge him with a crime

I've said all along drump will end up convicted of a crime long before Hillary.

[tanyev]

6. Those sleazy Dept of Building inspectors are so dishonest and so unfair!

[dbackjon]

8. Probably Mexican too. Or Puerto Rican - you know, not real Americans.

[Zambero]

9. Hey, I'm building a university here. OK?

So unfair. The ones who paid up loved it. Being treated very badly. Judge is a hater. Mexican too.