The Lady who Said Not Only "No" but "Hell No"

[W. Gray]

How many of you folks remember this house being in the news a quarter century ago and again in the last month, or so?

That house was in Atlantic City and has been mentioned a few times in the Republican debates. Donald Trump has been taking heat for trying to take the house with Eminent Domain.

I did not remember Trump as being associated with it, so I did some research.

That structural steel going up around the house did not belong to Trump, but the Trump Casino was in the next block over.

Bob Guiccione (Penthouse magazine) put up the structural steel surrounding the house and it was supposed to be a casino. The lady that lived there refused to sell out and her house was the only place left on that entire block. She and her husband bought the three story place for $22,000 in 1961.

She was a widow by the late 80s and refused to sell. She turned down $1 million. So, Guiccione built around her and then went bankrupt. The steel framing was torn down and then along came Trump around 1993 who wanted that block for a parking lot.

She refused to sell to him. Trump says he offered her several million dollars plus free residence in one of his apartments for the rest of her life. She still refused. On his behalf, Atlantic City filed Eminent Domain proceedings and she was to be given $250,000 in the settlement. She refused, went to court, and won.

In 2010, she moved to San Francisco to be with her daughter. Her grandchildren put the place on the market for $5m, but it would not sell and by this time Trump was not interested. It finally sold at auction in 2014 for $500,000 and was torn down.

As far as I know the lady is still alive.

[Diane Amberg]

I remember that well.(Vera Coking) It had a lot of press here. Atlantic City in general has begun to decline now.