Deluge of Public Feedback Blasts ‘Ugly’ White House Ballroom Plan

A long list of speakers criticized the White House ballroom project during a public hearing held Thursday by the National Capital Planning Commission.The live comment period came after the committee received more than 32,000 written comments — also mostly negative — about the $400 million project.A large majority of the feedback recommended either scaling the project down or scrapping it altogether. Some suggested simply rebuilding the East Wing building as it was before crews suddenly tore it down last year.“We know you can build a 1,000-person ballroom that, unlike the plan currently under review, truly honors the iconic status, the primacy, and the historic significance of the People’s House,” the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Carol Quillen, said.“While a presidential ballroom may be long overdue, the project should not be haphazardly expedited at the expense of centuries of well established planning and regulatory processes,” a member of the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, William J. Bates said. “Our nation’s history and future deserve more dignity, consideration and due diligence.”“It’s ugly,” Kye Rowan, a private citizen, bluntly told the commission. “This is not a building meant to be ostentatious.”“The White House, the most significant residential building in the United States, was designed purposefully and symbolically,” a history and historic preservation professor, Alison Hoagland, told the commission. “Its relatively small size is an important part of its symbolism, declaring that this was not a palace or a castle but, rather, a house.”“I oppose this waste of money to satisfy one person’s vanity,” retired teacher Matias Grau said. “I suggest the funding billionaires redirect their gift to benefit our fellow citizens who are suffering in some way.”More than a hundred people registered to speak in person to the committee but many of them did not attend the online meeting to deliver remarks.The commission’s chairman, William Scharf, had warned other commission members that testimony could go until 7 p.m. or later with each speaker being given between three and five minutes, but the comment period ended at 4 p.m. He did voice multiple times that many of the public comments had fallen outside the scope of the planning commission’s scope of duties.“We’re not a roving building court,” Mr. Scharf said at one point.The current commission is stacked with Mr. Trump loyalists and has been expected to rubber stamp the project despite the overwhelming negative feedback.In one contentious moment, Jon Golinger, who spoke on behalf of the consumer advocacy organization, Public Citizen, claimed that three members of the commission that Mr. Trump appointed did not have the required planning experience required for the role and should recuse themselves from voting on the project.Mr. Scharf, a White House staff secretary, responded that it was “insulting” to claim he was not qualified to serve.Mr. Golinger then brought up campaign literature from Mr. Scharf’s run for Missouri attorney general. Mr. Golinger said that Mr. Scharf didn’t list any experience that would show he was qualified.Mr. Scharf replied that it was ridiculous to bring up old campaign flyers to question his qualifications. “If you want to sue me, I’ll see you in court,” Mr. Scharaf said.The commission had been expected to take a final vote on Thursday to approve the project plans, but Mr. Scharf said at the beginning of the meeting that the vote would be postponed until April due to the outpouring of feedback.

Deluge of Public Feedback Blasts ‘Ugly’ White House Ballroom Plan

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