CITY HALL — The mayor and the Donald are at odds over the new sign on the Trump Tower.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has come out against the controversial 20-foot-tall sign being installed on the Trump International Hotel & Tower, 401 N. Wabash Ave.
"Mayor Emanuel believes this is an architecturally tasteful building scarred by an architecturally tasteless sign," mayoral spokeswoman Kelley Quinn said Thursday.
Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) called the sign "extremely tasteless" last week, and it remains a hot-button issue across the city.
Trump's representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But on his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account Trump tweeted: "Before I bought the site, the Sun-Times had the biggest, ugliest sign Chicago has ever seen. Mine is magnificent and popular."
Earlier, he tweeted: "People are LOVING the Trump sign on the Chicago building. Big-league tweets, letters and calls."
Trump also tweeted that Tribune architecture columnist Blair Kamin was "dopey" for an article critical of the sign in Thursday's paper and called him a "third-rate architecture critic."
Emanuel, though, threatened to have the sign altered if not removed.
"The sign — which was already reduced in size and scope — does comply with the provisions of the planned development ordinance and the City Council sign order, but he has asked his staff to determine if there are any options available for further changes," Quinn added.
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) pushed the permit for the sign through the City Council a year ago, but installation did not begin until last month.
The sign remains under construction, with the framework of the final P up, but the covering still being completed.
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