Trump Tower and the Question of 'Public' Space

Posted August 25, 2016

External Article: The Atlantic

Robert Rosenberger, associate professor in the Ivan Allen College School of Public Policy, wrote “Trump Tower and the Question of ‘Public’ Space” for The Atlantic.

Excerpt:

Trump Tower is the place where Donald Trump announced that he was running for president, taking a long escalator down to a stage in the building’s atrium. It’s where some scenes for his reality show were filmed. It’s where, as the Republican Party’s nominee for president, he maintains his campaign headquarters. It’s the command center of his business empire. It’s his home. And it’s also been the subject, over the years, of controversies over the proper management and maintenance of public space.

One such controversy has centered on a 22-foot-long stone bench that went missing from the building’s atrium, and then was suddenly and surreptitiously replaced. The reason the bench is an issue of contention in the first place is that the atrium of Trump Tower is what’s called a privately-owned public space, the product of an agreement in which a developer receives special permissions from the city in exchange for the inclusion and upkeep of spaces open to the general public.

For the full article, read here.