On Monday, May 13, 2019 Mayor Bill de Blasio staged a publicity stunt at Trump Tower.  De Blasio rallied his leftist minions to rage against President Trump as if all the sewage from Trump Tower was being dumped in the East River! 

“Our message is loud and clear,” de Blasio said. “We’re tackling climate change head-on with NYC’s Green New Deal and are the first city in the world to require all big buildings to cut their emissions, with the goal of a carbon neutral city by 2050. President Trump – you’re on notice. Your polluting buildings are part of the problem. Cut your emissions or pay the price.” 

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio

Trump Tower was completed in 1984.  The Trump Organization maintains its corporate offices in the Trump Tower.  The building is a 68 story, mixed-use structure.  Architect Der Scutt, with Donald Trump’s input, designed the building.  The City of New York approved the design, issued all necessary permits, and collected all fees associated with new construction.  Now, 35 years later, the City of New York mouthpiece Bill de Blasio, threatens the President of the United States with millions of dollars in fines if Trump Tower does not meet the new greenhouse gas emissions standards set forth in the Climate Mobilization Act. 

The Climate Mobilization Act will impact approximately 50,000 buildings in New York City. For many property owners, the cost to retrofit their buildings to meet these sudden and unfair mandates will prove to be economically unfeasible. De Blasio is counting on it!  New York City will be able to confiscate millions upon millions of dollars in fines in the name of the Green New Deal.  No doubt, NYC will spend millions of dollars in legal fees defending this latest wealth confiscation scheme.

Buildings like Trump Tower that were built with glass curtain walls 35 years ago will have to spend tens of millions of dollars to come into compliance.  Some of these costs will result in reduced energy bills for landlords, but the return on the investment will be so long that it cannot truly be called an investment.  The cost to outfit many of these buildings will be a loss.   

The tone of De Blasio’s press conference was childishly combative.  The mayor clearly thinks he now has a big stick to beat money out of wealthy property owners.  To pretend that this so-called Green New Deal is solely about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and not about power and control, is to believe that De Blasio will retrofit all of the polluting City of New York buildings right away – to set a great example for the rest of the city.  New York City Hall and the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building are polluting NYC too Mr. Mayor!  If an exemption doesn’t already exist for government buildings – wait for it. 

De Blasio’s greatest disappointment would be if every targeted landlord complied with this over-reaching, draconian mandate…especially if President Trump complied.  Trump owns 8 buildings in NYC that, according to De Blasio, do not meet 2030 emissions levels under the law and would owe approximately $2.1 million in fines every year starting in 2030. 

Make no mistake about it.  NYC politicians like De Blasio are already anticipating the money obtained by fining / taxing thousands of property owners who have buildings in the city limits – buildings that NYC approved for construction years ago.  De Blasio, whose birth name is Warren Wilhelm Jr., knows that normally, older buildings are brought up to current code when the property owner seeks permits for a remodel, upgrade, or necessary maintenance. 

But that is not the liberal NYC council’s goal, nor Billy’s.  These leftists want to steal from those that have actually created wealth and jobs, to punish success, to call them polluters while the City pollutes, all while wearing their green jackets, holding their green signs in hopes that they have disguised their green envy and red hatred.  The table is set for the ultimate socialist move – to seize the properties.  Think Cuba.  1959.