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Clinton considering cheaper office
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AFTER drawing fire for plans to spend US$800,000 a year to lease office space in midtown Manhattan, former President Bill Clinton has abandoned the deal and is considering cheaper office space in Harlem, a spokeswoman said.
``He wanted to go to a place where he could be a good neighbour and be welcomed by the neighbourhood as well,'' Julia Payne, a spokeswoman for Clinton's Washington transition office, said on Monday.
The largely African-American neighbourhood of Harlem was a mecca for jazz music and the arts in past decades but later gained a reputation for poverty and crime. It was long shunned by major national retail stores. But in recent years, the neighbourhood in upper Manhattan has seen a renewal in part due to a precipitous drop in crime and an infusion of government aid.
Payne said Clinton was looking at about 720 square metres on West 125th Street, the main thoroughfare of the neighbourhood in upper Manhattan. Neither Clinton's office nor the building owner would comment on what the space might cost the former president.
Rep Charles Rangel, a Harlem Democrat, said he had been in contact with Clinton about leasing space in the neighbourhood over the weekend. Rangel referred to the office space as``state-of-the-art''.
A proposed deal for office space on West 57th Street in Carnegie Towers, where Clinton's rent would have been about US$800,000, drew fire from Congressional and other critics over its high cost. Like other ex-presidents, Clinton's post-White House office is paid for by tax payers. Last week, Clinton volunteered that his philanthropic foundation would cover US$300,000 of the rent.
Payne said Clinton's chief of staff Karen Tramontano told the General Services Administration on Monday that the former president no longer planned to pursue the Carnegie Towers space and asked the office to cancel lease negotiations.
``We're very excited'' about the prospect of Clinton leasing the Harlem space, Rangel said.
(SD-Agencies)
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