We find his hubris amusing, at best. The legendary Long Island State Parks Commission president, Robert Moses, created Jones Beach in 1929 as a commercial-free haven where average folks could spend a day in the sun and surf. Trump on the Ocean, intended for the well-to-do who can afford the heavy outlay of cash needed to rent the facility, tramples on Moses’s original vision.
Trump apparently believes that he, and he alone, should set the terms of the deal to build the 70,000-square-foot catering hall and restaurant. He has said more than once that, from 2009 to 2049, he will pay $200 million in state income taxes for the facility’s employees, so that gives him certain, shall we say, privileges. He often forgets to mention that he projects the opulent eatery to gross more than $1.5 billion over the next four decades.
Trump has quibbled with the state Department of Parks and Recreation over the building’s design, even haggling over the size of his name on the facility’s sign. He, of course, wanted it in big, bold letters. The state wanted it smaller, in keeping with Moses’s original plans for Jones Beach. Eventually, Trump relented.
Then The Donald bristled at the state’s requirement that he follow green building standards to make it more energy-efficient and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Again, he came around, but only after tough negotiations with the state. Following green building standards will cost Trump an additional $500,000, a pittance compared with the enormous profits he plans to reap.
Worst of all, Trump will pay no property taxes on the facility, because the state will retain ownership of it and lease it to him. That will deny the Wantagh School District up to $1 million a year in property taxes, according to Nassau County Tax Assessor Harvey Levinson, a Democrat from Garden City, who is calling on Trump to make payments to the district in lieu of taxes. In October, Levinson called Trump on the Ocean a “raping of the beach.” We couldn’t agree more.
Now Trump is ticked off because the state parks department is requiring him to get needed permits for the facility’s basement. Trump says he has already booked parties at the catering facility for the spring of 2009, when Trump on the Ocean is set to open. Getting the permits will likely delay its construction, so he may have to postpone or cancel parties.
Awww. Poor Mr. Trump. Who told him to start booking parties? He’s in the construction business. He knows delays occur. He should get the necessary permits, period. The rest of us have to, for the smallest of backyard projects, even a six-foot fence. Trump wants to construct a 26,710-square-foot basement in an area known for flooding. The old Boardwalk Cafe, which graced Jones Beach from 1966 to 2004, had to be demolished because erosion degraded the structural integrity of the historic eatery.
We noted that the parks department will not hold the public hearing on the basement permits in Nassau County, where residents are most interested in the outcome of the proceeding — and most likely to voice their concerns. Rather, the hearing will take place in Westchester County. So, even though the parks department is requiring Trump to get a permit, it’s still cutting him a break. Nah, the rich never receive special treatment. The hearing should be held here, in Nassau County.
From the outset, we’ve disagreed with the deal to allow Trump to build at Jones Beach, which was announced in 2006. He was the lone bidder on the project, after one other dropped out. At that point the project should have been rebid, especially considering that the state had done a poor job of advertising its request for proposals for a facility of this magnitude and importance. But, of course, Trump had a friend in a high place at the time, Bernadette Castro, who was the state parks department commissioner under Gov. George Pataki.
Trump has promised to build a restaurant along with the catering hall. We’re guessing it won’t be for the T-shirt-and-shorts crowd. At least he agreed to give restaurant-goers the same type of ocean views that his well-heeled catering hall clients will get — but only after the state forced him to.
What’s done is done. Trump on the Ocean will be built. Meantime, we hope The Donald stops his ceaseless whining, abides by his contract with the state, gets the necessary permits and makes payments in lieu of taxes to the Wantagh School District. After all, what’s another $1 million a year, or $40 million over 40 years, when you’re grossing $1.5 billion?
