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Trump International Hotel in DC is costing non-profits thousands of dollars

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WedgeX

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Some background from the Washington Post. The Washington Post last year had worried about the agreement's affect on First Amendment Rights.

Washington Post said:
The whole thing would be laughable, a real thigh-slapper, if the danger weren’t so real.

The Trump Organization, led by arch First Amendment foe Donald Trump, has worked out a traffic arrangement with the D.C. government that one free-speech advocacy group, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, fears will allow for the stifling of speech and assembly in proximity to the historic Old Post Office Building, which Trump has leased from the feds for use as a Trump International Hotel.

...

The D.C. Department of Transportation has approved a vehicle-access lane for valet parking service at the hotel’s entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue, the historic national thoroughfare running between the White House and the Capitol, where free speech and dissent have long openly fared. Free-speech advocates worry that the Trump hotel will now feel free to create a buffer zone around itself, restricting access to exclusive or priority use by the Trump Organization.

...

By way of background, the hotel’s main entrance, according to the final negotiations, was to be around the corner on 11th Street NW. That is where guests would arrive and receive valet service and parking.

But as The Post reported in February, the District and the Trump Organization agreed to “keep one lane open at all times so the hotel can operate its valet service” on the Grand Avenue. Hence the fear among free-speech advocates that Trump might treat Pennsylvania Avenue as another one of his political rally sites, where guards, at a nod, could hustle protesters to the nearest exit.


And now, courtesy NBC Washington:

NBC Washington said:
Nonprofit organizations say holding events along Washington D.C.'s Pennsylvania Avenue costs thousands of dollars more because of President Donald Trump's hotel.

As part of an agreement with the Trump International Hotel, the D.C. government requires organizers of events or races that shut down Pennsylvania Ave. to hire a private company to wall off the curb lane around the hotel so guests can drive in and out.

"The requirement is the installation of construction grade water barricades in front of the Trump hotel from 12th Street to 10th Street. It costs about $7,500 dollars that the event has to bear the cost of," said Kathy Dalby, the CEO of Pacers Running.

For many years, the stretch of Pennsylvania Ave. from Freedom Plaza to the Capitol has been a preferred site for charity races. Dalby said holding a race, parade or festival in that stretch is already expensive as organizers have to pay the city $25,000 to shut down the roads. Organizations have had to foot a larger bill since the luxury hotel opened in October last year.

The article is from earlier in the month but when it aired on local television I could not find the link. So far it has not impacted any of the marches in DC as none of them were actually planned for Pennsylvania Ave, although near all of them have spilled onto Pennsylvania or have detoured to Trump International Hotel at one point. Essentially the Trump hotel has by itself has increased costs by a third. Just for a valet lane that was not even originally supposed to be on Pennsylvania Ave.
 
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