Palm Beach, Florida, USA – Donald Trump’s leadership is in its final days, forcing the First Family to find new places to live – but there are some potential new neighbors in Florida’s elite community where it wants to move to fighting to keep it out.
A group of Palm Beach residents who live near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club is urging Trump city officials to keep him from moving there permanently after his presidency. They cite an agreement he made almost 30 years ago that prohibits him from staying to improve the building. The case was first reported by the Washington Post.
According to the complaint, Trump, who bought a sprawling oceanside estate in 1986, was granted permission to convert it into a private club in 1993, unless it was no longer a private home. The 126-room house was built in 1927 as a residence for Marjorie Meriweather Post, the daughter of the CW Post hater. As part of Trump’s original agreement, guests could only stay overnight for three weeks a year, and no more than seven days at a time, the Post reported.
As president, however, Trump has spent more than 130 days at the Club, according to the post, making the building his “Winter White House.”
Trump Mar-a-Lago resort is no longer zoned as a private residence [File: Carlos Barria/Reuters]
Palm Beach is one of the most restricted and expensive regions in the United States and is home to many of the country’s billions and millions of millionaires who live here seasonally to enjoy tropical weather and social life. successful in winter. Trump is spending the December holidays with his family at Mar-a-Lago while taking a break for golf on his company’s daytime courses.
Because of security protocols needed to accommodate primary travel, his tours require road closures and White House staff and the presence of the Secret Service, which neighbors argue has been blocked. life on the island. Trump was also given a helipad on the building – the only one licensed in Palm Beach – that was only allowed for official business as president. Trump will have even fewer Secret Service details for life when he leaves office.
The New York Times reported that a lawyer representing Nancy S DeMoss, who lives next to the Trump building, sent a letter to the Town of Palm Beach through attorney Reginald Stanbaugh arguing that to stay at the club.
“Under the 1993 usage agreement, Mar-a-Lago is a social club, and no one is allowed to live on the premises,” Stanbaugh’s letter reads, according to the Times. To avoid embarrassment for all and to give the president time to make other live arrangements in the area, we hope you will work with his team to remind them of the parameters of a usage agreement. “
Kirk Blouin, Palm Beach City Manager, said officials would not address the matter until he knew for “truth” that Trump intends to stay on the building.
“The city is unaware of the president’s intent in this regard and has no evidence to support that claim,” Blouin said in a statement to the Miami Herald. “If and when “The city will, in fact, learn that President Trump intends to stay at Mar-a-Lago; he will address the issue appropriately at that time.”
Trump speaks to the media after a press conference in the White and Gold Ballroom at his club, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida April 15, 2011 [File: Joe Skipper/Reuters]
This was not the first time the president has fought with local authorities; Trump has been on issues with officials here for years.
In 2006, Trump placed a 7.6-by-15.2-meter large American flag on the Mar-a-Lago building, which enacted a local order restricting the size of a flag on the island. The city was trying to fine him $ 1,250 a day. Trump refused, and the parties eventually reached agreement on the issue.
In 1995, 2010 and 2015, Trump tried to sue Palm Beach County for noise from air traffic coming from the city’s international airport. (The planes were diverted during his command for security reasons, but flights over Mar-a-Lago could resume when he is no longer president.)
Laurence Leamer, a Palm Beach resident critic and author of Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Power Gates at Donald Trump’s Presidential Palace, said Trump has been a controversial figure in Palm Beach since its inception. it first appeared in the 1980s.
“He liked the outside when he showed up. It’s loud and over the top, “said Leamer.” Palm Beach is an awful place for most people. It’s the weirdest place. It’s waterproof. Everything is hidden away . And not Donald Trump. So he had problems with the old elite. “
With Trump’s record on wrestling with Palm Beach Town, Leamer said he would likely find a way to stay in the area, regardless of the complaints from neighbors.
“He doesn’t care about laws.” He is going to find a way around it. That’s what he’s done in his business life, that’s what he’s done in Washington in four years as president and that’s what he’s always done here, ”Leamer said. “The city does not like controversy. “To me, it’s very likely they’ll say he can’t stay there. He’ll appeal and find a way around it.”
Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, December 24, 2019 [File: Leah Millis/Reuters]
Trump could avoid the fight by just finding another building to live in. The New York Post said the family were looking for housing on the island, citing “potential conflict”.
Palm Beach property listings are filled with buildings that, like Mar-a-Lago, cover the entire width of the island. The area is renowned for its ability to provide high levels of confidentiality and security to well-off residents and, often, well-known residents.
“Based on the president’s original choice here in Palm Beach, which is Mar-a-Lago, it’s going to be very difficult to get over that,” said Paulette Koch, a broker of former Palm Beach real estate agents. in particular is building multi-million-dollar buildings on the island. “But some buildings are amazing. That is what we are famous for. And there is a handful that might be of interest that are in the neck of the forest. “
Trump, a lifelong New Yorker, formally announced his intention to stay in Florida when he submitted a “publication of a home” in Palm Beach in 2019.
“I will make Palm Beach, Florida, our permanent abode,” Trump said in a tweet at the time, adding that he was treated badly by New York officials. To make this decision, but in the end it will be better for all involved. “
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, The White House, is the place I have always loved and will stay for, hopefully, another 5 years while we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, but my family and I make Palm Beach, Florida, our permanent residence. I love New York, and the people of… ..
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2019
The move was most likely for income tax reasons, allowing the president to avoid the New York city and state tax rate. Florida, on the other hand, has no income tax, and a Republican tax review signed by Trump in 2017 will allow it to save even more.
“Good puzzle,” replied New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “It’s yours, Florida.”