MIDTOWN — Donald Trump’s message may have gone over well with voters on Super Tuesday, but he's not charming New York City's Department of Buildings.
Last July, the DOB issued a violation against Trump Tower Commercial over two merchandise kiosks in the lobby of Fifth Avenue’s Trump Tower that the agency said shouldn't be there.
The lobby is a privately owned public space, or POPS, which means any use must serve the public good — something the city said the kiosks, plying their Trump-branded clothing and keepsakes, don't do.
In January, Environmental Control Board Hearing Officer Susan Brand upheld the violation, as reported by The New York Times, and slapped Trump Tower Commercial with a $4,000 fine, which the company paid.
The company was fined $2,500 for the same violation ten years ago, according to city records, but continued to keep the kiosks.
Michael Cohen, an executive with The Trump Organization, told the Times in January that the company has always tried to comply with zoning regulations applying to the building, and that this time the kiosks would come down — likely by the end of February.
But as of Wednesday, only one had been removed.
Through a spokesman, the DOB confirmed Wednesday that it has not received any word from The Trump Organization, which owns the building, about its plans for the second kiosk.
“There will be a follow up inspection in the coming days,” the DOB spokesman said. “If they are found to have failed to comply, the Department will issue another violation.”
Cohen, the Trump executive, did not return multiple requests for comment.
Jerold S. Kayden, an urban planning professor at Harvard University and the president of Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space, said in February that when the kiosks were installed, one had displaced a large bench in the lobby.
Though the change may seem insignificant, Kayden said the preservation of POPS properties is valuable.
"In a crowded, very dense city like New York, these sorts of small public spaces perform an important role,” he said.
“When they are diminished by being closed or taken over by adjacent private uses, a little bit of the public life of the city is equally diminished.”
