Our great national rezoning fight (10-24-2025--Hour1)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on wbt Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. So the East Wing demolition and the new White House ballroom, this is the this is the national local story we all need right now as a as a country. Really, I think so it and I call it a national local story because we have lived this local story repeatedly. It is replicated in jurists all across the fruited plane. As a former reporter here at WBT LO those many years ago, I would cover the Charlotte City Council meetings, and the Charlotte City Council does rezonings and development approvals and such. When I did my time up in Asheville, working up there for about eight years, I would also monitor the Asheville City Council meetings and they too would do rezonings and development deals. And now upon my return to the City of Asheville or sorry, the City of Charlotte, I continue to monitor the Charlotte City Council meetings and they still are doing rezonings and developments. And what we are watching with the White House ballroom project is very, very familiar to me because I have witnessed this same argument since two thousand, so for twenty five years, I have seen this argument unfold in every city that I have ever covered rezonings and developments. Because you know, if you take out you know, Orange Hitler, you remove Donald Trump from the equation, it's the same arguments. Except for the traffic count argument. I've not heard anybody make the it's going to increase our traffic. I haven't heard that one. But all of the rest of it is is the same. Particularly if you've ever, you know, had the had the blessings of watching a fight over any kind of improvement in a historical district, those things, those things are nasty and kind of ridiculous. Like I remember one here in Charlotte. It was over the coffee cup. That was the name of a place, it's called the Coffee Cup, And it was right down the block here from the radio station. I had gone into the Coffee Cup over the years several times to get one of their ridiculously awesome and large morning biscuits. And they somebody, a developer came in bought all of the land and they were like, we're gonna make a whole bunch of you know, mixed use development in there, because at the time that was the big thing, mixed use development, retail on the ground floor, apartments and up above. And the all of a sudden, people that I you know, had never seen at city council meetings and never saw again, they turned out in order to argue against the Coffee Cup moving, which they did. By the way, spoiler alert, it was approved. The Coffee Cup did move. The Coffee Cup was one of the few places back in I think the sixties I'm just going from memory here that served that integrated. They served black and white customers. And for this they were trying to get it designated as a historic site and all of that. But like, we don't do that in Charlotte. We tear down the historic buildings and we put you know, like a sign up or maybe like a like old I don't know, one of those bronze placards or whatever, and we sink it into the concrete or like on this spot, something happened a long time ago, right, And then you know, if you walk past it and you stop to read it, you will then, you know, be culturally historically enriched. But otherwise you could walk around, like all through uptown and never really encounter any kind of historic building. And that's just the Charlotte way. And I remember I was out at a bar one night and talking to a lady who was passionate about the coffee cup and did not know, like, you know, who I was or what I did. I mean, I was a reporter. Nobody knew who I was. So I'm out at this bar and she's like going off on this, you know, huge tirade about the coffee cup. And I asked her at some point, like have you have you ever been inside the coffee cup? Have you been there? Not to sound all Douglas Murray esque, but have you been there? And she had not, and I was like, as far as historic buildings go, it's like, it's not really a great building. It's not like there's some architecture that speaks to you. It's kind of a shack. You know, it wasn't not really a great building. And so if the coffee cup owners the original owner, oh that's right, I think they had sold, so it wasn't even the original owners at that point, and so anyway, they moved them. And then I think that the whole project because the downturn in the economy hit and they never actually built the entire project, so they just cleared the building and nothing is there as I understand it to this day. So I have covered a lot of this stuff, and that's what I see. This East Wing project at the White House, that's what I see in this argument when I'm reading people's outrage. I mean, like, okay, ninety nine percent of it is Orange Hitler, you know, can't stand Donald Trump. Anything he does is awful, and so we're against it, and they're just trying to find all of these these things to support their pre existing anger. Right. You have sort of this nimby attitude, a sort of not in my backyard. There's this anti development, anti progress, I call it that. And so you've got that side of it, and then on the other side, you've got a I don't want to say progressive, but a more pro progress kind of a mentality, but an improvement mentality, a builder mentality, and that is often these these are the things that are often at odds in these types of these types of development. And this is I think a very important moment for us to as a nation to accept the idea that building new and beautiful things that are needed is good. It's a good thing. Like you've probably heard people lament like we used to build stuff in America, right, And I know it's just a ballroom, and I know it's Donald Trump, and so you gotta hate the project because you hate the developer. I understand that. But if you step back for a moment, what was the need that precipitated the project. It's that the White House doesn't have a ballroom to hold events in to the point where they have to set up these tents out on the lawn. Whenever they have like members of foreign countries coming to visit the White House for a state dinner, they're doing some you know, big party or something for important people, and they got to pitch a tent. And they've been doing that for decades now. I understand there are some people in big tent in the tent industry, that are probably not too keen on this project either, because it will render their services obsolete theyrrelevant. They are irrelevant at this point then, right, don't need your tense anymore. But setting that industry aside, what is the rational argument against having a secure building for these types of events? And I can find none, And so that's why you get all of these stand in arguments that are used to try to make the case that why you're opposed to it isn't really why you're opposed to it. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. 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All right, so let me start with the the MSNBC write up on the East Wing demolition. Okay, this is by a guy named Hayes Brown, a writer and editor for MSNBC Daily. He used to work at BuzzFeed. So yeah, he says that it's absurd. He says it's potential unethical. Okay. Former officials and historical experts were appalled at Donald Trump and hence at the images. Actually, I just threw that part in there about Donald Trump. That's really what drives a lot of this. They hate Trump and so therefore what he's doing is wrong. So they're appalled at the images of demolition equipment ripping through the White House's East wing when they were first published by The Washington Post this week. The outcry only grew as the rapid renovation spread further, not merely taking down the facade outside the East Wing, but tearing haphazardly into the building. Yeah, it's called a demo. Have you ever seen a demolition of a building? Once everything that they want to save is out of the building, it's really just a process of ripping the whole thing down. Like I'm not sure, Like, did you expect people out there with screwdrivers, you know, undoing every screw you know, using a crowbar and peeling off every piece of wood to to preserve the wood. It's just absurd, It's absurd, he says. A White House official confirmed that the plan is now to raise the whole structure, rather than tagging on the ballroom as an addition. Now, by the way, this is apparently a lie that media made off of a mistake. So media reporters at a White House briefing from months ago, they messed up. They thought that a question from a reporter was spoken by the White House Press Secretary, Caroline Levette or Levitt, and she did not say that a reporter asked it, And so the AP then put out their story back in July, saying that it would that the East Wing would not be demolished, but she didn't say that. The AP has since corrected the record as of two days ago. But there's this belief that Trump is now doing something that he didn't say he was going to do. They did, They showed you the plans. He's been walking around with those plans for months and it includes the removal of the East Wing offices that everybody's now freaking out because we can see the demolition occurring now. He says, it's true that there have been several major overhauls to the Executive Mansion. That's the main part of the White House, right, So the Executive Mansion is in the center, that's what everybody thinks of when they think of the White House. And then you've got these two sort of annex buildings off to the sides. One's the West Wing, one's the East Wing, and then they're connected with the Colonnade a little sort of open air breezeway that goes between so you can walk between the buildings when it's raining. But the project Trump has undertaken is on another level, entirely because he is the worst ever. I added that last part. The East Wing and the West Wing are not original they were added later. Both of them originated during President Teddy Roosevelt's administration. The West Wing was originally a temporary structure to house the growing presidential staff and keep him away from the residences. The construction required destroying the Victorian era conservatory greenhouses that previously occupied the grounds, and at the time, the pearl clutching was off the charts from The Washington Times nineteen o two. Unfortunately, the West Terrace ends in an awful blot on the landscape the new temporary offices for the president. It is to be hoped the temporary does not mean a temporizing with the American people to tied over their first wrath and then perpetuate the hideous little dog house as a permanent thing. Yeah. See this is new, right, this is never new. It's like, oh, this thing exists, so I don't We don't need it anymore. It's obsolete, it's falling apart. Whatever, We're going to tear it down. No, you can't tear it down. Oh I hate the way the new thing looks. They were saying that about the West Wing. The East Wing began life as an entryway for Teddy Roosevelt's guests, to make their way through a corridor to the residents with a long cloak room for coats and hats. Not really needed so much any longer, right, I mean, yes, some coats, but with you know, climate control in vehicles and in the building, you don't really need that much room for coats anymore, and definitely not hats, except of course, if you're hosting like a Kentucky Derby party. But his great nephew FDR would later augment the structure starting in nineteen forty two, adding a second story and more office space. The expansion was done mostly to cover up the secret construction of a bunker underneath the White House in case Germany's long range missile program was ever able to reach Washington. Since then, it has or had become the public facing arm of the White House, with the first floor devoted to tours and the second floor populated with the office of the First Lady and her staff. By the way, when Truman was president, he and his wife had to move out of the White House for like three years the actual mansion itself because it was collapsing. They gutted the entire interior. Okay, the only thing that remained was the exterior stonework. That's it. Everything inside got gutted during Truman's presidency. And when he got back in after being out for three years, he comes back in and he's like five and a half million dollars, which in today's dollars like seventy million. He's like, I could have done it for half that price, which is again, that's like every single argument against any kind of development like this, Oh I, they have to spend so much money, Like this is every hoa Facebook page. Here's a great idea. 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Are you all okay? Did anybody get knocked down when they knocked down the building? You're all okay? I was told this to be an emergency. It would be a problem. All right, I'm glad you're okay. Yeah. Like, I don't understand why people are freaking out about this so much, except that it's Donald Trump and Trump arrangement syndrome. The White House said that it's going to submit the ballroom plans to the National Capitol Planning Commission for review, but the announcement was made only after the demo had already begun. Classic developer move, right, you tear it all down, and it's like, well, I mean, I guess we could walk away, which I guess is what a couple out of Virginia are asking a court to do. They have gone to court to try to block Trump from proceeding with demolition of the East Wring. Guys, I think you were a little late to the courthouse. Charles and Judith Voorhees filed the motion in federal court late yesterday, asking a judge to halt any further damage to the White House. There's nothing left. It's all torn down. I mean, not the whole White House, just that building on the east side, the East Wing offices. It seeks a temporary restraining order against the demolition, arguing it is taking place without legally required approvals or reviews. Yeah. The problem is that one of the laws that they're going to be citing here, the National Historic Preservation Act, it actually contains an explicit exemption for the White House. So yeah, I mean, good try, I guess on you guys with the lawsuit. Back to the MSNBC writer, while not as psychologically damaging as the slide into authoritarianism that Trump has unleashed, the gaudy, gilded monstrosity that may eventually be attached to the People's House will serve as a reminder of how much his influence will be felt long after he is gone. And that's the problem. That's the problem. They all know that ballroom once it's built with private donations. By the way, it's not even costing taxpayers any money. That thing is not going to go anywhere. That ballroom will now be a part of the White House until there is no longer a White House, right, and that's what's got them upset. Trump has left a mark on the White House, and that's what has them so ticked off. Miranda Divine at the New York Post saying trump arrangement critics of his big, beautiful ballroom are losing their minds over his beautification of the White House. Suddenly the people who cheered on as bandal revolutionaries, toppled statues of Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, or tore down Confederate monuments, now they are the ardent preservers of American history. Hillary Clinton tweeted, it's not his house. Of course, her best known contribution to the White House was making off with about twenty eight thousand dollars worth of furniture when she and Bill moved out, builded other things at the People's House that we'll just leave that there. The ballroom is a historic and well overdue enhancement of the White House, and it's not costing taxpayers any money well to build, Like once it's built, then you're going to have, you know, the ongoing maintenance cost and all that there will also be a reinforced attack proof steel roof, and all sorts of other national security enhancements that have long been on the wish list of the US military, which Trump hinted during a meeting with Theocretary General of NATO in the Oval Office, saying that the military is very much involved in the planning here. As a seasoned property developer, Trump knows you never give naysayers time to complain. That's why they moved so fast, right. Trump's beautification and improvement projects at the White House really are a metaphor for what he is attempting for the country as a whole. She says. For instance, he takes personal pride in the restoration of Washington, d C. Since he announced his crime crackdown. He equates civic beauty with law and order, something his critics cannot understand. If you want to understand Trump's mindset, the big vision statesman and detail freak perfectionist, you have to read the book Under Siege, written by Trump's son Eric, a chip off the old block in every way except for the love of the limelight, and what comes through in that book, she says, is his father's passion for building and creating. He talks about how his dad put him to work on the construction projects and like manual labor, walking around with you know, wheelbarrows full of materials and stuff taught him the value of a dollar. Trump also taught his son to love and appreciate craftsmanship and the people who are capable of creating something beautiful with their hands. He tells a story. I saw an interview with Eric Trump about this, and he tells a story of they were driving down the road one day. This was decades ago. Eric Trump is a little kid and he sees some guy on the side of the road and he's doing some stone work. So Trump tells the driver stop the car. The limo, probably stop the limo. Trump gets out with Eric and he starts talking to this stonemason and the guy is from Italy and he's admiring the work and they're talking about the stone work and all of that, and Trump ends up hiring that guy to do all the stone work for all of his buildings after that. Trump is a builder. He built skylines, resorts and businesses, and he built a family. According to Eric Trump, and now the president is putting that passion for building beautiful things into restoring America. Right. Destruction is easy, as you saw with the East Wing office building. Right, it's easy. You could tear stuff down pretty quickly. But creation, particularly creating things of beauty that, in my opinion, is an expression of the divine through man. Right, building beautiful buildings, whether they were churches hundreds of years ago, right, or or government buildings that still stand today in the classic architecture, which is by the way, going to be They hired I don't know the architect's name, but they hired somebody who has done a bunch of churches and so like they're going to keep that same architectural esthetic. It's going to look like a beautiful part of the building. And part of me wonders if that's what's got people upset to because building beautiful things is a manifestation of the divine, and I just kind of wonder if people don't like to be reminded of that. All Right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why, Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app, and it's a website, and it combines news from around the world in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot ground, dot news slash pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Here's the peak tweet from Holly, who says, I can't imagine the shape the East Wing actually was in after all the piecemeal repairs and renovations over the years. Yeah, I mean. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt pointed out two reporters think yesterday, Like you're sitting in the press briefing room which used to be the swimming pool. This was a pool. Presidents have done this stuff to the White House since there was a White House, right, Okay, since the British burned it down. But yeah, after that, okay, Alan, welcome to the program. Hello, Alan, Hey Pete, how you doing? Man? I really appreciate this. Come appreciate this conversation you're having here. I'm a I'm a I've got a fab shop and I make decorative things out of copper and brass and stainless and stuff like that. Nice. And if it's worth part of my life to build a pro in every pod project, every single project has part of my life in it. Yep. So if if it's going to be in an item that somebody has assigned serious value to, it has to be adorned. It's not optional. And the way I look at things, and regrettably, I think so many people in our society today have bought into these isms like there is no value to this ornamental construction. Yeah. So one example I would give you is the difference between say, the US Capitol Building versus the North Carolina General Assembly Building, and if you've never seen the General Assembly buildings. It's just like they're two boxes, they're just squares. They were built in like the sixties and seventies, and just like a lot of the architecture, particularly government architecture at the time, it was just stripped of all of its soul, the architecture, and then they throw some pieces of quote artwork out on the front lawn which also don't have any intrinsic beauty in them, and it doesn't speak to anything in the soul. And that's what that's what beautiful works of architecture. H And as you call it adornment, which is a great term, it's like that's that's what you're supposed to be conjuring up. Like you said, it's like your time is a unit of your life that you are trading off to create this thing. You don't get any more time, and so that is a it's a limited resource that you are trading to create something. Why not make it beautiful? That's and that's you know, I don't know, but with the number of people that you deal with, the most powerful word that I've learned to use is know, And I should have learned it years ago. Well, all right, Allan. I appreciate the call man. Have a great weekend, you do, all right? Take care now. Yeah, I think there are a lot of people that are worried that this is going to look like Trump Tower, right, I did see Yea. Walter sent me the photo like this AI generated image of Trump Tower on the East Lawn. That's not what it's going to be, but that's I think what a lot of these lefties think it's going to look like, which is just silly. It's just silly. All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecallnershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.