Preservationists Sue Trump Over White House Ballroom Project

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is suing President Trump and several federal agencies to block further construction work on the White House ballroom project until it goes through a legally mandated review process. The suit, filed Friday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, calls the project unlawful.“The White House is arguably the most evocative building in our country and a globally recognized symbol of our powerful American ideals. As the organization charged with protecting places where our history happened, the National Trust was compelled to file this case,” the organization’s CEO, Carol Quillen, said in a statement.“Submitting the project to the National Capital Planning Commission for review protects the iconic historic features of the White House campus as it evolves. Inviting comments from the American people signals respect and helps ensure a lasting legacy that befits a government of the people, by the people, for the people,” Ms. Quillen continued.The suit contends that construction started before plans were filed with the National Capital Planning Commission and that no required environmental impact work was carried out. The suit also states that Congress needs to authorize construction of the building and claims Mr. Trump is violating the Property Clause of the Constitution, which reserves to Congress the right to dispose of and make all rules regarding property belonging to the United States.The trust says it requested a pause in construction in October until the legally mandated review processes were completed but was ignored.The administration is defending the project. “President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House – just like all of his predecessors did,” a spokesman for the White House, Davis Ingle, said in an email to The New York Sun on Friday.Mr. Ingle gave the same response in October when a Virginia couple filed a federal suit seeking to block the construction shortly after the East Wing was demolished to make way for the $300 million project.Mr. Trump has said the ballroom project is a much-needed addition. The White House has long been unable to host large functions without erecting a large tent 100 yards away from the main building. The new ballroom will hold far more people than the East Room with its 200-person capacity.Mr. Trump has claimed the project is being funded, mostly, by private donations, including from the president himself.The privately funded National Trust was chartered by Congress in 1949 to facilitate public participation in the preservation of sites of national significance.The latest lawsuit comes as preservationists are fighting to save four other Washington, D.C., buildings that the Trump administration is considering demolishing.A filing attached to a federal lawsuit in Washington claims the administration is about to seek bids to tear down four historic federal buildings that are eligible to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. They are the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, the GSA Regional Office Building, and the Liberty Loan Building.The Cohen building, which was built as the original Social Security building, houses several prominent murals and relief sculptures. The founder of the non-profit Living New Deal, Gray Brechin, calls the building the “Sistine Chapel of the New Deal” and is concerned about the possibility they might be destroyed.Historic New Deal-era murals like “The Wealth of the Nation” by Seymour Fogel are at risk if the Wilbur J. Cohen Building at Washington D.C. is demolished.

Preservationists Sue Trump Over White House Ballroom Project

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