FACING LONG OVERDUE OVERSIGHT,
TRUMP ORGANIZATION PULLS OUT
OF TRUMP SOHO
Just before Thanksgiving, the Trump Organization announced it was pulling out of the Trum SoHo Condo-Hotel. Reports indicate that poor economic performance at the development was behind the move. While many factors have affected the Trump SoHo’s poor performance, no doubt one is the enforcement of zoning regulations restricting the use of the “condo-hotel,” which GVSHP has fought relentlessly to ensure was done.
For years, the City allowed the Trump SoHo to operate without enforcing a special restrictive declaration meant to ensure that the building abided by zoning regulations. Only after GVSHP uncovered that these regulations were not being enforced, and called the City on not doing so, did enforcement take place. GVSHP has continued to monitor every year to ensure that such enforcement takes place, penalties are imposed for lack of compliance, and our zoning regulations are followed.
From the beginning, GVSHP said that the Trump SoHo would violate zoning regulations, and would never be built and could never succeed if it actually obeyed the zoning rules for the area. But the some of our local elected officials and the prior administration disagreed, granting the Trump SoHo permits for construction, defending it in court, and ignoring fatal construction accidents, organized crime connections, illegal work, and advertisements for illegal use of the building. The restrictive declaration the city imposed upon the building, meant to show that zoning rules would be enforced for this development in spite of all these infractions, was never enforced by the administration or elected officials who crafted and put it in place. ONLY after GVSHP uncovered this dereliction of duty and lack of enforcement has compliance been monitored and fines imposed. And we make sure such enforcement continues.
The Trump SoHo should never have been allowed to be built, and it continues to offer a case study in government oversight gone horribly awry. But GVSHP will continue to do everything in its power to ensure that no one profits from illegal uses here, and that those regulations which were put in place here to ensure compliance with the law continue to be enforced as rigorously as possible.
Previous: 1/30/15
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