Trump’s ballroom is an unnecessary waste of money

To the editor,

The Trump ballroom is totally unnecessary and would be a colossal waste of money — so far, money from corporations seeking favors from the president or, if Sen. Lindsey Graham, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other Republicans have their way, $400 million in taxpayer money. Its use as a bunker for the president in case of an impending attack is contrary to typical evacuation plans devised for the president, which require him to be whisked away from the White House to a safe place at a secret location. Moreover, if the ballroom is under Trump’s control, he would determine which guests would be invited there. How many journalists are apt to be on his guest list for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, were it to be held there?

The Great Hall of the National Building Museum in Washington, DC — called the Pension Building until 1980 — was the site of inaugural balls seven times, for Presidents Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. The Great Hall covers 36,636 square feet, and the height of its ceiling increases from 75 feet at the entrance to 159 feet at its center. Trump’s ballroom is designed to cover 25,000 square feet, with a 40-foot ceiling. The Corinthian columns in the Great Hall are 8 feet in diameter and at a height of 75 feet, are among the tallest indoor columns in the world — far higher than the outside columns Trump has proposed for his ballroom.

MIRIAM LEVINE HELBOK