From 2016: Taxpayers built this New York golf course. Trump reaps the rewards.
Donald Trump attends the 2015 Hank’s Yanks Golf Classic at Trump Golf Links Ferry Point last July in New York City. At the grand opening last year of the public New York City golf course Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, Donald Trump called for a moment of self-congratulation. After touching down on the grounds in his Trump helicopter, the businessman and his daughter, Ivanka, teed off for a celebratory first swing.
Trump has aggressively pushed to reduce the tax bills at his portfolio of sumptuous golf courses, dispatching lawyers to win lower tax valuations for the same clubs he tells election regulators are high-value gems. Approved in the late ‘90s, the project slogged through years of legal delays, cost overruns and management fiascoes that led the New York Daily News to label it the “boondoggle in the Bronx.” The city axed its agreement with the course’s original developer in 2006, shortly before an auditor said the city had squandered millions in public funds.
Adrian Benepe, who served as New York’s parks commissioner from 2002 to 2012, said the city had struggled for years to find a company willing and able to handle the job. Other operators, he said, would have received similarly favorable terms due to the inherent difficulties of running the site. Ivanka Trump wrote in a blog post last year that her father whipped workers into shape by saying, “You guys have made a lot of money pushing sand around for the last 20 years, but that stops with me.” City officials, however, say Trump was merely a “concessionaire” let in after the bulk of the city’s design and heavy construction work was finished.
The city didn’t pay for that, parks spokesman Sam Biederman said: “Mr. Trump can afford to commemorate his golf triumphs himself.”Shortly before landing the deal, Trump hired Ron Lieberman, a director of concessions for the city’s parks department who resigned in 2007. Lieberman is now a Trump Organization executive vice president of management and development, and he helps run Trump’s golf courses.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Opinion | New York to Trump: Your pardon wouldn’t keep Manafort out of jailOrdinarily, society’s interest in seeing the same person prosecuted by two different courts for the same conduct is low. But this is a special case.
Read more »
Ford's China JV to lay off 'thousands' of workers: New York TimesFord Motor Co's joint venture in China has 'quietly begun' dismis...
Read more »