TRUMP'S STUMP
Emma Gilbey on an
attempt to build the tallest tower in the world
New York THE intention of Donald Trump, head of the Trump Organisation, is to build seven 60-storey buildings in Manhattan, a huge Shopping mall, a television complex and the world's tallest building. As well as generating millions of dollars in business, this would bring at least 30,000 people to an as yet deserted part of town, and change the skyline of Manhattan. The 75-acre site stretches from 59th to 72nd street along the Hudson river.
Trump has already made quite a name for himself in the real estate and nouvelle society worlds of New York. He is a flamboyant figure well accustomed to dis- plays of ostentation. It was Trump who stepped in to rescue the Wollam Iceskating Rink when the city's plans to rescue it were floundering, and restored it to working order in record time. It was Trump who pulled down Bonwit Teller on 5th Avenue and erected Trump Tower in its place — a vast and gaudy a structure that has been given several favourable mentions in Judith Krantz's novel, I'll Take Manhattan, Where she describes Trump himself, 'the brilliant, ambitious, young real-estate man, who even his enemies had to admit was disarmingly unaffected'. Indeed, in a recently television version of the novel Trump appears as himself. It is the disarmingly unaffected Trump who has been accused by tenants living in a building on Central Park South of using harassing techniques' to get them out after he had bought the building and wished to revamp it. The techniques allegedly in- cluded putting tin over the empty windows to give the building a run-down look, filing law suits against individual tenants in the hope of eviction and inviting the homeless of the city into the building to sleep in the hallways and empty apartments. Now Trump's attention is concentrated on what is already being referred to by some as Trump City. His architect, Alexander Cooper, is hard at work to produce an Environmental Impact Statement', a re- Port containing all the proposed plans for developing a site, which is what the city's Board of Estimate must vote on before the Plans can be implemented. Coincidentally, a recent study, released by State Senator Franz Leichter of Manhattan, listing cam- paign contributions to Board of Estimate members has at the top of the list the Trump Management Corp. with a total donation of $350,630 over the last five years.
Trump seems to be. in a strong position to carry out his plans. As well as being an enthusiastic contributor to city officials and seen more and more as a generous bene- factor by the public as a result of charitable donations, he is also negotiating with NBC television to build them a series of televi- sion studios on the site which, he intends, will house them when their current lease in Rockefeller Center comes to an end in 1997. Trump is openly wooing NBC at the moment, but what if he doesn't succeed and there is no television complex? 'There will be,' laughs one of his employees. 'You can rest assured of that.'
What are the disadvantages of Trump's project? Steven Robinson, an architect and co-chairman of Westpride, an organisation concerned with West Side development, says he is very worried about, 'the con- sequence of such a high density of build- ings, so many people living and working in an area that is so remote from mass transit. Creating a regional shopping mall with insufficient transportation means an in- crease in traffic and therefore of air pollu- tion'. The same can be said with more emphasis about the world's tallest building, a 150-storey, 2,000 foot-high construction that will have two million square feet of office space, 750 hotel rooms and 750 apartments. The shadows cast by the build- 'You have St credibility!' ing will block the sunlight for several hours a day as far north as 20 streets away.
As the sun moves round to the west and gets lower in the sky, the shadow will extend like a fan. Norman Levin, the vice-president from the Trump Organisa- tion who is in charge of this project, does not acknowledge these problems. He sees only advantages in the plans, especially those for the world's tallest building as a symbol. A symbol of what? 'Oh, power. . . yes. . . and prestige.' There is a certain nevety in Mr Levin's attitude. When questioned about facilities such as fire services, schools and so on that would be needed by the several thousand inhabitants of the apartments, offices and hotels, his response is that those already in existence are 'under-utilised' and would be able to absorb the needs of the people corning to the area.
Neither Trump nor Levin acknowledge the existence of community opposition to the scheme. Levin says of the community needs, 'Where we can accommodate them, we will.' Robinson points out that the community is not just the localised group on the Upper West Side, it is the commun- ity of New York City. The traffic problems will be shared by all. Approaches to the city will be affected, as well as neighbour- hoods surrounding the site. Even flight paths will have to be reconsidered and the Federal Aviation Authority has to give a judgment on the size of the 150-storey building. If approval is withheld, Trump could proceed, but might find it hard to get insurance.
Westpride is working with the staff of City Planning and the local lobbying group, Community Board 7, in examining Trump's blueprints. Their aim is to halve the scale of Trump's plan. So far the staff of City Planning have been conscientious and public-spirited in what they have allowed through and what they have re- jected. There is anxiety though, that Trump might be able to go above City Planning, who have no real voting power, serving only as advisers to the Board of Estimate. Trump seems to be proceeding with the confidence of one who knows the Board of Estimate is already on his side and will weigh up the pros and cons of the plans with weighted scales.
So what can the citizens of Manhattan expect? Those involved in trying to limit the scale of the project take consolation from the example of Marcy Bienstock who succeeded after 12 years of fighting in preventing developers and city officials in the West Side Highway being built. More and more influential individuals are trying to restrain Trump City. As Ellan Iseman, Executive Director of Westpride put it, 'The best we can hope for is that Donald J. Trump, a master of the bold gesture will seize this chance to build with the com- munity's needs in mind. At worst he will try to erect a waterfront that benefits only his own purse and image.'
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