Home Delivery

Trump foes offer advice for Long Islanders

Ellis Henican

March 5, 2008

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

Jones Beach isn't Donald's only battle now, perhaps not even his bloodiest one.

Not yet, anyway.

At the same time Team Trump is confronting "Growing Suspicion on the Ocean" - how 'bout that for a name change? - the never-bashful developer is also locked in an angry clash with residents of lower Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood.

It's full Trump glitz at the corner of Spring and Varick streets, a former struggling-artist outpost that didn't used to be called SoHo at all. Just "over by the Holland Tunnel." There, Trump is building a 45-story condo tower, packaged as a hotel, a legal loophole that allows him to go far higher than city zoning would normally allow - although that, like almost everything else connected to Trump SoHo, is the subject of intense litigation.

Ellis Henican Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

No, nothing is ever simple in Trump-ville.

As South Shore residents and civic leaders turned up yesterday at the Cradle of Aviation Museum to sound off over the developer's mammoth beachside catering hall, his adversaries in the city were eager to share their hard-earned war-with-Trump advice.

"Hire a good lawyer," urged Brad Hoylman, chairman of Manhattan Community Board 2. "His relationship with the community is - Hoylman paused there, reaching for the right word - "nonexistent. He doesn't seem to care what anybody thinks."

Sean Sweeney, president of the SoHo Alliance, had even more pointed suggestions for Long Islanders having their first Trump experience. "Don't trust the guy," Sweeney said. "This whole project has been a fiasco from our point of view. Count your fingers after you shake his hand."

Ouch!

Indeed, the public record is teeming with trouble at Trump SoHo.

At every step, Donald's people have defended their professionalism and expertise.

But city inspectors have raised questions about shoddy construction techniques at the half-completed tower. A stop-work order from the city Buildings Department has halted most major construction at the site. Alarmed by Trump SoHo, city Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster has demanded an overhaul in the city rules about how scaffolding and sidewalk sheds are maintained.

All this burst into broad public view on Jan. 14, when a construction worker pouring concrete at the building fell 42 floors to his death. A wooden mold collapsed, raining construction debris onto the busy sidewalks and street below. Another worker was thrown from the 42nd floor but was caught by a safety net.

For now, only limited work - no concrete, no cranes - has resumed at the building, and only on the lower floors.

The controversy began as soon as the building was announced.

Trump first revealed his plans on "The Apprentice," without giving his new neighbors any kind of heads-up, they said.

"Many developers at least engage in a dialogue, even if we ultimately have points of disagreement," said Hoylman, the community board chairman. "They come with some willingness to accommodate - or at least consider - community concerns."

Another hotel, Hoylman said, is being built nearby at Sixth Avenue and Grand Street. "From the very beginning," he said, "the developers sat down with us and said, 'Here's what we want to do. What do you think?' We gave them our input. We began a dialogue."

There's been none of that with Trump and his people, Hoylman said. "Unfortunately, they felt they needed to exploit this loophole," he said, whereby hotels can be much taller than condominium apartments.

Before the Buildings Department would approve Trump's plans, he made explicit promises to keep the hotel a hotel.

"It's a Trojan horse," said Sweeney from the SoHo Alliance. "They're calling it a hotel and marketing it like a condo. Our concern is that there is really no way to enforce the hotel limit in the long run. They'll get their approval this way - and end up with a high-end condo."

There is one other lesson in the SoHo experience, Sweeney said, that might be of value to Trump opponents in Nassau, as they toast their interim victory last night. "You can beat this guy," the activist said.

"So many people have negative feelings about him already," Sweeney said. "It makes it far easier to organize. People keep joining our group, it's amazing. The Trump name just brings them out."