White House ballroom vote delayed amid deluge of angry public comments

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: USA Today

White House ballroom vote delayed amid deluge of angry public comments

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
USA TODAY
March 4, 2026 Updated March 5, 2026, 3:51 p.m. ET

A vote on President Donald Trump's plans for a $400 million White House ballroom was rescheduled after a commission in charge of deciding the project was deluged with more than 35,000 written comments and 104 people wanting to testify at a public hearing.

Will Scharf, chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission who was appointed by Trump, said at the public hearing on March 5 that the vote would be taken at the commission's next meeting on April 2 to accommodate every member of the public who had signed up for a chance to speak. The NCPC, the overseer of federal property development and site designs, continued to hold the online public hearing on March 5 to hear from droves of people − most of them with negative opinion − signed up to speak or reached out via email.

Stephen Staudigl, spokesperson for the NCPC, told USA TODAY that the vast majority of responses received via email have expressed negative opinions about the ballroom, and a USA TODAY cursory review found many angry responses, calling the ballroom idea gaudy, expensive, aggrandizing and unnecessary.

The commission's public meeting offered a window into the public's view of the project, which led to the demolition of the White House's East Wing. Apart from Scharf, the White House staff secretary, the 12-member commission board also includes two other White House officials.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/04/white-house-ballroom-vote-delayed-amid-deluge-of-angry-public-comments/88983464007/

---

National Capital Planning Commission hearing on ballroom, 1:00 p.m.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221073138

https://www.ncpc.gov/review/meeting/

https://www.ncpc.gov/live

[maxsolomon]

1. "We'll delay it till April 2nd so everyone forgets about it...

... and then approve the plans like we were going to do all along".

[Initech]

2. I'd like to tell Trump where he can go shove his stupid fucking ballroom!

[twodogsbarking]

3. Interesting the definition Google gives for deluge........

A deluge is a severe flood, drenching rain, or an overwhelming, large-scale influx of things (e.g., messages,,, complaints) arriving at once. The term also refers to the biblical Noah's Flood, a 1933 disaster film,

[sheshe2]

4. From your link.

"How could he just 'do that' without consent from you or Congress? PLEASE don't let him get away with him building this addition, gold plated monstrosity as it will be a replica of his 'gold plated lifestyle' which is disgusting," Penny Jarret wrote.

........................

"The East Wing ballroom is unnecessary beyond the pale," Tim Cobb wrote. "This President’s insecurity and insatiable narcissism is nakedly apparent in this project, to say nothing of his absurd Arch de Trump. I could not disagree more with this boondoggle."

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. Just one more example debunking the myth of Trump's omnipotence. Nt

[forgotmylogin]

6. Now a vote?

The time to vote on what to replace with was before tearing an entire wing down and leaving a crater next to The White House.

But Mr. Apprentice always gets what he wants. It's like a spoiled child wanting different shoes, so they destroy the existing ones to guarantee parents have to replace them and can't say "the shoes you have now are fine."

Infuriating. They could have proposed a new separate gathering facility elsewhere on the WH property and probably had the Rs approve it instead of tearing half the WH apart in preparation with no concrete plans in place.