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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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"Residents have blasted the plan from many directions, arguing that hundreds of new homes would clog roads, overburden schools, fail to boost the local economy, swamp sewers, harm trees and wildlife, block routes to the beach and “further devastate a once beautiful unspoiled area,” as a planning report described one line of opposition."

"Of the 2,921 households who weighed in with planning authorities, only three supported the Trump plan."

Trump’s company, seeking to revive a money-losing golf course in Scotland, gets approval to build 550 homes there

By Joshua Partlow | Published September 26 at 11:39 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted September 26, 2019 3:55 PM ET |

ABERDEEN, Scotland — A local council in northeastern Scotland granted approval on Thursday to the Trump Organization to build 550 houses on pastureland and forests in a remote swath of North Sea coastline, a rare victory for the company amid declining fortunes elsewhere for the president’s family business.

The Aberdeenshire Council voted 38 to 24 to allow the Trump Organization’s residential development to move forward despite vocal opposition from many residents who fear it would crowd the roads and schools of their windswept village.

By winning the council’s approval, the Trump Organization is poised for one of its most ambitious foreign expansion of his presidency. It is also a rescue effort of sorts for Trump’s first golf course in Europe, which has lost money each year since it opened in 2012. A second local council this week also approved the company’s plan to build a second golf course on the site.

“I’m absolutely delighted. Common sense has prevailed,” Sarah Malone, an executive vice president at the Trump Organization who oversees the Aberdeen project, told reporters after the vote. “Today’s very strong recommendation is a clear endorsement by the northeast of Scotland that the Trump development to date is already a success, and we want to build on that great foundation.”

In a sign of its confidence in Wednesday’s vote, the Trump Organization had already begun marketing the homes as part of what it called the Trump Estate, with some homes priced at more than $1.5 million.

If the Trump Organization follows through on these plans, it would turn the company into something it has not been before: a large-scale residential home builder. The company has built condo buildings before and sold off a few dozen houses or home lots next to other golf courses. But the company is now proposing to build a sizable suburban development, complete with the expenses of roads, streets and a school.

The outcome in Aberdeen runs contrary to the general trend for Trump’s family business. Since he took office, leaving day-to-day control of his company to his sons, the real estate empire has seen revenue decline at several key properties, including his Mar-a-Lago Club and the Doral resort in Florida.

A rare bright spot is Trump’s D.C. hotel, which has attracted business from Trump’s political allies, foreign politicians and lobbyists.

The company also has faced repeated controversies for mixing business with politics. Visiting diplomats and U.S. officials have come under scrutiny for patronizing the president’s properties. The Pentagon acknowledged spending nearly $200,000 at Turnberry, Trump’s other Scotland golf course, over the past two years to put up U.S. Air Force crews. Trump also has proposed hosting next year’s G-7 conference of world leaders at his resort in Doral, Florida.

On one level, the Aberdeen dispute has been about the future of a small Scottish village and comes with all the attendant not-in-my-backyard tensions. But because neighbor in question is Donald Trump, geopolitical passions have been stirred into the local brew. Amid the swirl of impeachment and Brexit, residents of Aberdeen were handed their own chance to opine about Trump.

“My fingers are numb,” said councilman Brian Topping about the mountain of email that came his way.

Of the 2,921 households who weighed in with planning authorities, only three supported the Trump plan.

The Trump Organization’s proposal involves building 500 houses and 50 holiday cottages, plus shops, restaurants and other community facilities on its 430-acre seaside property. The development is in the village of Balmedie, a misty little burgh of about 2,500 people that could get significantly more crowded if the development comes to fruition.

Residents have blasted the plan from many directions, arguing that hundreds of new homes would clog roads, overburden schools, fail to boost the local economy, swamp sewers, harm trees and wildlife, block routes to the beach and “further devastate a once beautiful unspoiled area,” as a planning report described one line of opposition.

During Thursday’s meeting, councilors struggled to separate the normal planning process from the fact that the U.S. president was involved in this case. One councilor, Martin Ford, recused himself because of his past criticism of Trump — but not before announcing that the area’s “standing and reputation” had been damaged by association with Trump and his “incitement to violence, racism, misogyny, and environmental vandalism.”

“Mr. Ford, I think that’s wholly inappropriate,” the presiding provost scolded him. “I would ask you not to continue with that line.”

The Aberdeen course has been a contentious subject for more than a decade.

Early on, landowners fought against selling their land to Trump at the prices he offered. More recently, some hoisted Mexican flags on their property to protest the president. Trump also unsuccessfully sued the Scottish government to stop a wind farm from being built in view of his course.

For authorities, the issue this week was about what the Trump Organization wanted to build.

The Trump Organization had received approval in 2008 to build hundreds of homes as long as they also built their planned golf tourism resort that officials hoped would enhance the local economy. The plan included a 450-room hotel, a conference center, a spa and other amenities.

That hotel has not been built and the only existing lodging on Trump’s property is a boutique hotel with 21 rooms. Hordes of golf tourists have so far not materialized. The golf course is closed for five months of the year during winter and is regularly blasted by inclement weather even when open.

Company executives have indicated that shifting to residential real estate is the best chance for the project’s survival.

“For long term sustainability — this is a real estate play — we’re going to have to sell homes,” George Sorial, a former Trump Organization executive who oversaw the Aberdeen project in its early years, said in an interview earlier this year.

But by shifting to building homes instead of a big hotel, some locals believe the Trump Organization has betrayed its promise to boost the economy.

“We were promised something transformative with this development,” said Councilor Richard Thomson, who voted against the plan. “I don’t think this is it.”

The Trump Organization argued that the local economy had changed in the past decade — after the 2008 recession and the 2014 oil price collapse — and that a big hotel was no longer economically feasible.

“There is a crisis of oversupply in the northeast of Scotland,” Malone, of the Trump Organization, said. “We are world leaders when it comes to building five star hotels. You just need to look at our record. If there was a market to build a 450-bedroom hotel, we would be the first ones to do it.”

Proponents of the plan said that any new development could still provide an economic boon to the local area.

“Germany is going into recession. France appears to be in recession. Southern Europe is going into recession. And we have an American businessman who is prepared to make a multimillion pound investment into Aberdeenshire,” said Councilor Sebastian Lane. “I think that is marvelous.”

David A. Fahrenthold in Washington contributed to this report.

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keepingtrackofchanges · 7 years

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1:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump is signing two executive orders in keeping with campaign promises to boost border security and crack down on immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

The president signed the two orders Wednesday during a ceremony at the Department of Homeland Security after honoring the department's newly confirmed secretary, retired Gen. John Kelly.

The executive orders jumpstart construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, one of his signature campaign promises, and strip funding for so-called sanctuary cities, which don't arrest or detain immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

___

1:40 p.m.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer is saying that President Donald Trump plans to open an investigation into voter fraud "to understand where the problem exists, how deep it goes."

Trump tweets on Wednesday calling for the investigation revisited unsubstantiated claims he's made repeatedly about a rigged voting system.

Spicer did not provide many details as to what the probe would look like, calling it at one point "a task force."

He suggested that the probe would focus on dead people who remained on the voter rolls and people registered in two or more states. In particular, he singled out "bigger states" where the Trump campaign "didn't compete" in the election.

There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud occurring in November's election.

___

1:30 p.m.

The House intelligence committee says it will focus on leaks of classified information to the media as part of its investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

In a tweet earlier this month, then President-elect Trump asked the intelligence committees to investigate "top secret intelligence" shared with a news organization.

The House panel is already investigating the intelligence agencies' finding that Russia interfered in the election to benefit President Donald Trump. The Senate intelligence committee is also conducting an investigation.

1:25 p.m.

The White House is distancing itself from a draft executive order that would lead to a major review of America's methods for interrogating terror suspects and the possible reopening of CIA-run "black site" prisons outside the United States.

Spokesman Sean Spicer said the draft "is not a White House document." He says he has "no idea where it came from."

The AP obtained the draft order from a U.S. official, who said it had been distributed by the White House for consultations before Trump signs it. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

The order would also reverse America's commitment to closing the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and instruct the Pentagon to send newly captured "enemy combatants" to the site.

1:15 p.m.

An electrical contractor who worked on the Trump International Hotel in Washington has sued a company owned by President Donald Trump for more than $2 million, alleging it was not fully paid.

AES Electrical of Laurel, Maryland, filed suit in District of Columbia Superior Court, the latest in a string of lawsuits involving Trump's renovation of the historic Old Post Office building a few blocks from the White House.

AES alleges it bore increased expenses because of change orders and other demands from Trump's staff. AES claims it was told to accelerate the pace of work so that the then-Republican presidential candidate could hold a televised media event to celebrate the "soft opening" of the $200 million project prior to the November election.

The complaint was first reported by Politico.

___

1:10 p.m.

The Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat has informed two key members of President Donald Trump's national security team that he will not stand for any attempt to get around the U.S. law banning torture.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia says in a statement that he spoke Wednesday morning to Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Warner says he told them "any attempt by this administration to restart torture is absolutely unacceptable, and I will strongly oppose it."

Warner is responding to reports that Trump is considering a major review of America's methods for interrogating terror suspects and the possible reopening of "black site" prisons outside the United States.

Warner says he'll hold Mattis and Pompeo "to their sworn testimony to follow the law banning the use of enhanced interrogation techniques."

___

12:30 p.m.

More than 100 workers rights groups say President Donald Trump's choice for labor secretary raises enough questions to warrant a "rigorous" and extended confirmation hearing.

The groups wrote in a letter to the Senate committee conducting the Feb. 2 hearing that senators should be able to ask multiple rounds of questions of fast food executive Andrew Puzder about everything from his business record to his personal history. The groups say that's because Puzder has no record of public service and because he's publicly opposed employer mandates.

He should be subjected to "rigorous examination" that includes the testimony of former workers of Puzder's companies, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.

Chairman Lamar Alexander allowed only one round of questions for Trump's controversial picks for education and health secretary last week.

___

12:10 p.m.

The Trump Organization is tapping a former George H.W. Bush campaign lawyer and a top executive at the company as ethics monitors for the business.

The company says that Bobby Burchfield of the law firm King & Spalding will become the independent ethics adviser to review transactions for conflicts-of-interest problems. Burchfield was general counsel to Bush's re-election campaign in 1992.

The company says executive vice president George Sorial will take on the role of chief compliance counsel.

A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether Trump has plans to hire a White House ethics counselor, as at least the previous two presidents have done. That attorney would be beholden to the American public, unlike the Trump Organization attorneys, who report only to the privately held company.

___

11:40 a.m.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she feels "very sad" and "sorry" for President Donald Trump for falsely claiming he'd have won the presidential popular vote but for votes cast against him by millions of people in the U.S. illegally.

The California Democrat told reporters Wednesday that the new president is "so insecure." She said suggesting massive voting irregularities undermines the election system's integrity and is "really strange," and she says she'd prayed for him.

She contrasted Trump's assertion with the intelligence community's conclusion that the Russians intervened in the election to help Trump win. She said Trump "resists" investigating that.

Trump tweeted Wednesday that he's ordering an investigation into voter fraud.

Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by almost 3 million votes.

___

10:20 a.m.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has been sworn in to be President Donald Trump's ambassador to the United Nations.

Vice President Mike Pence swore in Haley on Wednesday. The Senate voted 96-4 Tuesday night in favor of her nomination despite her lack of significant foreign policy experience.

During her confirmation hearing, the South Carolina-born daughter of Indian immigrants said she supports Trump's call to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

She also took a harder line against Russia than Trump, saying she doesn't think Moscow can be trusted right now.

Haley resigned as South Carolina's governor moments after the Senate vote. She was succeeded by Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster.

___

10:16 a.m.

Republican Sen. John McCain is pushing back on any efforts by President Donald Trump to use an executive order to allow enhanced interrogation.

In a statement on Wednesday, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee said the president can sign whatever executive orders he likes, "but the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America."

McCain pointed out that the Senate voted overwhelmingly in June 2015 for prohibiting torture and endorsing only those techniques spelled out in the Army Field Manual. Waterboarding and other forms of enhanced interrogation are not included in the field manual.

The Arizona senator also said that Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo assured him that they would support the Army Field Manual.

McCain said he was "confident these leaders will be true to their word."

10:15 a.m.

A draft executive order shows President Donald Trump asking for a review of America's methods for interrogation terror suspects and whether the U.S. should reopen CIA-run "black site" prisons outside the United States.

The order also would also continue America's use of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the draft from a U.S. official.

The document instructs senior national security officers to "recommend to the president whether to reinitiate a program of interrogation of high-value alien terrorists to be operated outside the United States and whether such program should include the use of detention facilities operated by the Central Intelligence Agency."

The document says U.S. laws should be obeyed at all times and explicitly rejects "torture."

7:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump says he will reveal his Supreme Court pick next Thursday. The court has had only eight justices since the death last year of Justice Antonin Scalia.

Trump tweeted early Wednesday, "I will be making my Supreme Court pick on Thursday of next week. Thank you."

A person familiar with the process said the president has narrowed his choice to three federal appellate judges. They all were on the list of 21 potential high court picks Trump announced during his presidential campaign.

The leading contenders — who all have met with Trump — are William Pryor, Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman, the person said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly about internal decisions.

7:25 a.m.

President Donald Trump says he will order an investigation into voter fraud.

The president tweeted early Wednesday that the measures will affect those registered to vote in more than one state, "those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time)."

Trump says that "depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures."

Trump repeatedly made disputable claims of a rigged voting system before the election, but now in the White House, he continues to raise concern over fraud.

#trump #politics #cuba #guantanamo #mexico #wall #immigration

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