The City of Asheville confirmed receipt of a $82,247.60 payment from the Trump campaign, ahead of the former president’s Wednesday campaign event in Asheville.
The deposit will cover a two-day rental of the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, a city-owned building that’s part of the Harrah’s Cherokee Center complex in downtown Asheville. The auditorium is the smaller of the complex’s two venues, with a maximum seating capacity of 2,431, according to the venue website.
Of those funds, $22,500 is the rental amount for the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium event space, according to city spokesperson Kim Miller.
“The remainder of the funds go to cover additional costs such as venue and security staffing, production equipment rental, and exterior items like attendee queue stanchions and related items.” Miller wrote in an email.
The Trump campaign first contacted the venue on August 8, Miller said. The contract was drawn up the next day. Because of the “last minute” nature of the request, the venue required organizers to provide payment in full prior to the event, per the Harrah’s Cherokee Center’s booking policy.
Trump campaign officials did not respond immediately to multiple requests for comment.
“The Thomas Wolfe Auditorium is a publicly owned venue and therefore is restricted from discriminating against users based on the content of their speech or political party affiliation," Miller wrote. "The City is committed to maintaining a neutral stance and upholding the First Amendment rights of all individuals and groups."
In other cities, including El Paso, Texas, Conway, South Carolina and several places in Montana, the Trump campaign has outstanding invoices. The City of El Paso has one of the largest outstanding invoices, alleging that the Trump campaign owes them more than $500,000 in public safety, maintenance and transit costs associated with a 2019 campaign visit, KTSM reported.
Miller told BPR that the city will not hire any additional contractors to manage the event and that all security and staffing costs will be provided through its regular government agencies.
“All security and associated staffing costs come out of taxpayer dollars of each government entity and agency involved with the management of the event as is standard operations for Asheville and other cities,” she said. “The costs associated are part of the City ensuring the safety of our residents and visitors.”
Due to the visit, everything from traffic patterns to the weekly trash pickup schedule will be impacted.
Several roads are closed through Wednesday, August 14 at 10 p.m., including:
- Haywood Street from Battery Park Avenue to O’Henry Avenue.
- Page Avenue from Haywood Street to Battle Square
- Walnut Street from Haywood Street to Rankin Avenue
- Hiawassee Street from Flint Street to N. Lexington Avenue
- Flint Street from Haywood to Cherry streets
- Vanderbilt Place
On-street parking will be closed on the following streets beginning Monday evening:
- Haywood Street between Battery Park and Page Avenue
- Page Avenue between Haywood Street and Battle Square
- Hiawassee Street
- Vanderbilt Place
- W. Walnut Street
Trash and recycling collection service will be canceled on Wednesday in the Central Business District. The city asks community members and businesses to place bins out by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, for collection between 5 and 8 p.m.
Lilly Knoepp also contributed to this report. This story was updated to reflect that trash and recycling services will only be canceled for the Central Business District. It was also amended to state that the City of Asheville is not faciliating port-a-loos as part of its payment breakdown.
