His indictment was a thousand kilometers away, but the ‘mayor of Mar-a-Lago’ also faced another inquisition.
May Donald Trump live on Air Force One on January 20 in his private resort in Florida, where he flew out of the White House on January 20, without first attending Joe Biden’s inauguration?
The Palm Beach City Council on Tuesday spent nearly seven hours on issues important to the wealthy island community: the availability of the coronavirus vaccine.
The latest shopping center in the city center is being revived. Even the durability of the Belgian tiles used on a new walkway and the danger that coconuts pose if palm trees become too high.
Each agenda item elicited a number of questions, comments and remarks, except one: whether the former US president may continue to live at his Mar-a-Lago club.
Although it is probably the most controversial among residents and of paramount importance nationally and internationally, the matter does not take up more than half an hour of council time – at the end of the meeting.
The five-member council has not taken any steps on the issue, which has been put on the agenda due to neighbors’ complaints that Trump’s presence would harm property values.
It is unclear whether the council will pursue the matter further, although a lawyer representing the residents is asking – without response – that he be allowed to make a fuller submission in April. The neighbors can also sue the city and Mar-a-Lago.
City Attorney Skip Randolph said there is nothing in the club’s 1993 agreement with Palm Beach that bans Trump from living there.
“This is a debate that I think is silly,” Randolph said.
He said the former president would be considered a bona fide employee of the company.
‘This man, as he wanders through the property, is like the mayor of Mar-a-Lago. He is always there, ”Randolph said in his virtual submission to the city council on Tuesday.
He and Trump’s attorney, John Marion, said the city allows clubs and resorts to provide housing for their employees, and Trump, as president of Mar-a-Lago, is adapting the bill.
But Philip Johnston, a lawyer who said he represents a group of residents named Preserve Palm Beach, said the club’s neighbors feared Trump’s tenure Mar-a-Lago in a “permanent beacon for his will make more furious, lawless supporters “town’s” gentle “character.
Many wealthy residents live in flamboyant mansions with staff and ornate decor, driving their Rolls-Royces to the local white tablecloth restaurants and high-fashion fashion and jewelry stores.
Some argue that Trump was given permission 28 years ago to convert the mansion with 126 rooms into a club, promised by a lawyer that he would not live in Mar-a-Lago.
But Marion said the provision would be disregarded in the final written agreement in exchange for Trump’s promise to be financially responsible for the preservation of the property if the club fails.
He also warned that Trump, at the slightest chance, would start from Mar-a-Lago, likely to move into one of the other nearby homes he owns.
The secret service bubble now living behind Mar-a-Lago’s gates will be in their streets, he said.
‘There will be obstacles in front of the property. “There will be guards and secret service personnel … There will be dog sniffing vehicles,” Marion said. ‘It would be a horrible imposition on them [the neighbors] if they get what they want. ”
But according to their lawyers, the neighbors are willing to take the chance.
Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985 for $ 10 million from the estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the owner of grain giant General Foods.
The mansion deteriorated after her death in 1973, when she left it to the U.S. government as a possible presidential vacation home. The government returned it in 1981.
After Trump bought it, he spent millions upgrading the property while living there part-time.
By the early 1990s, however, Trump was in financial distress. Real estate prices have fallen and several of its businesses have risen, including a casino in New Jersey.
In 1993, Trump and the city agreed that he could turn the estate into a private club. It would be limited to 500 members – the starting fee is now $ 200,000 and the annual fee is $ 14,000.