The Clock Tower at Trump International Hotel is STILL open for tourism

[Objective Voice]

Despite federal museums and national parks being closed during this government shutdown, the federally owned building that houses the Trump International Hotel remains open - for tourism that is.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Smithsonian museums are closed. There are no federal staffers to answer tourists’ questions at the Lincoln Memorial. And across the United States, national parks are cluttered with trash. Yet despite the federal government shutdown, a historic clock tower at the Trump International Hotel remained open Friday for its handful of visitors, staffed by green-clad National Park Service rangers.

“We’re open!” one National Park Service ranger declared around lunchtime, pushing an elevator button for a lone visitor entering the site through a side entrance to ride to the top of the 315-foot-high, nearly 120-year-old clock tower.

The Trump administration appears to have gone out of its way to keep the attraction in the federally owned building that houses the Trump hotel open and staffed with National Park Service rangers, even as other federal agencies shut all but the most essential services.

Amanda Osborn, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, which owns the building and leases it to the Trump Organization, said in an email that the shutdown exemption for the comparatively little-known clock tower was “unrelated to the facility’s tenant” — the Trump business. The agency says the law that put it in charge of the site obligates it to keep it open, even as federal Washington closes around it.

Source: https://apnews.com/a92b044703354064a34217492c5a0923

All I can say is, "Things that make you go, Ummmm.....?" Maybe this particular law needs to be re-examined.

 

[americanwoman]

Despite federal museums and national parks being closed during this government shutdown, the federally owned building that houses the Trump International Hotel remains open - for tourism that is.



Source: https://apnews.com/a92b044703354064a34217492c5a0923

All I can say is, "Things that make you go, Ummmm.....?" Maybe this particular law needs to be re-examined.

Typical of Trumps do as I say not as I do attitude.

 

[Samhain]

Despite federal museums and national parks being closed during this government shutdown, the federally owned building that houses the Trump International Hotel remains open - for tourism that is.



Source: https://apnews.com/a92b044703354064a34217492c5a0923

All I can say is, "Things that make you go, Ummmm.....?" Maybe this particular law needs to be re-examined.

The GSA, which helps other federal agencies operate, said it was using money from its building fund to keep the tower open and staffed.

Viewing the gsa.gov website appears to show that the Federal Building Fund has been on the books since 1974. I assume they are doing the same at other properties they manage with leased space. Additionally, less than 5% of GSA's employees are affected by the shutdown(see https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2018/12/see-who-would-get-furloughed-christmas-shutdown/153524/).

 

[Objective Voice]

I'm holding off on playing the blame game for the moment. It doesn't look as if this was done last minute so as to go around the current government shutdown. However, I do find it very interesting that this particular "historic structure" is still open for tourism business while more well-known national museums, i.e., the Smithsonian, is closed. It's not like this clock is Big Ben or anything. I wonder if it remained open during previous government shutdowns, however?

If I knew what law allows for this facility to remain open, I'd give it a thorough review.

EDIT: This is from public law 98-1 as linked from gsa.gov website:

SEC. 4. The Administrator of General Services shall execute an agreement with the Secretary of the Interior providing for operation of the observation tower in the Old Post Office Building by the National Park Service and further providing, if necessary, for transfer to the National Park Service in fiscal year 1983 and each succeeding fiscal year, out of revenues and collections from the Old Post Office Building deposited into the fund established pursuant to section 210(f) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, such sums as may be necessary to operate the observation tower.

Nothing is this section of law mandates that the Old Post Office Building must remain open. However, we don't know what the most recent agreement for operating this facility explicitly dictates. That will require some additional research.

(BTW, Thanks Samhain for pointing me to the gsa's website and providing insight.)

 

[Objective Voice]

Haven't found anything on the agreement between Depart of the Interior and the Old Post Office Building/Trump International Hotel....still doing researching. But I did find this tidbit from the Washington Examiner.

...[V]isitors will again be able to tour the tower and look out over the capital from its viewing platform after the General Services Administration, which owns the building, allocated money for its reopening.

...

"The referenced facility remains open as the funds needed to operate the Old Post Office tower are not associated with the current fiscal year's (FY 2019) appropriations bill," they (GSA) said.

So, was it an agreement to keep the building open or newly appropriated funds from a source unknown that's paying the National Park Service to keep this place open?

Again, from the WE article:

[P]ursuant to NPS policy, the NPS can negotiate arrangements with "local governments, cooperating associations and/or other third parties" to continue "specified visitor services." A company representative did not answer the outlet's inquiries into whether the Trump Organization offered to pay for the site to be reopened.

Interesting...the plot thickens. Who ponied up the cash?

Update - Answer found...I think...or has it?

From theHill.com:

The Old Post Office tower, which shares facilities with the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., will remain open during the partial government shutdown.

The General Services Administration (GSA), an independent government agency that owns the facility, is providing the funding to keep the tower open. “The referenced facility remains open as the funds needed to operate the Old Post Office tower are not associated with the current fiscal year's (FY 2019) appropriations bill. The overall operation of the tower was a part of the government’s lease signed in August 2013, and in response to the ‘Old Post Office Building Redevelopment Act of 2008,’” a GSA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill on Thursday.

The statement came in response to a request for comment on a report from E&E News that said the tower would be reopening and left it unclear how the funding to reopen the tower was procured.

This next part is interesting. So, pay close attention...

The GSA signed a deal with the Trump organization in 2013 to build the hotel and maintain public access to the 270-foot observation tower. The lease for the tower mandates that the Trump Organization is responsible for the entire Old Post Office site.

So, if Trump Org. is responsible for the entire Old Post Office Building and the per the GSA, the Dept. of the Interior can negotiate with other entities to operate the building, why did the GSA use its own money to keep this facility open during the current gov't shutdown? Do we have an agency-to-agency agreement in the works or is there something more nefarious going on here?