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EMERGENCY: Get Donald Trump The Key To The City

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Peter Fricke Contributor
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The City Council of Doral, Fla., approved an “emergency” measure Wednesday awarding Donald Trump a key to the city to thank him for holding the Miss Universe pageant there.

According to the Miami Herald, Mayor Luigi Boria placed the measure on the council’s meeting agenda “as a lay-down item—a distinction generally reserved for emergencies,” allowing the vote to be held without the advance public notice normally required of additions to the agenda.

“I have a special thanks for Mr. Trump that made his decision to bring this pageant to the city,” the Herald quoted Boria as saying, “and at this point, as a part of this agenda, I consider it an emergency, to bring the issue of giving the key to Mr. Donald Trump.” (RELATED: Donald Trump Teases Audience with Presidential Aspirations)

Doral’s city charter states that emergency measures are intended “to address a public emergency affecting life, health, property, or the public peace,” but does not explicitly prohibit their use for measures unrelated to land use, taxing or spending.

The Herald reports that Boria initially asked the Council to consider giving a key to Trump, along with Miss Universe President Paula M. Shugart, several weeks ago using emergency procedures, but changed his mind “two hours later, and after emails from residents and the media.”

At first, Boria explained that, “Trump doesn’t deserve my key …  It doesn’t make sense for Trump to have one.” (VIDEO: Jonah Goldberg: Donald Trump is the ‘Bane of Humanity’)

Subsequently, though, he claimed he had been “taken out of context” and that in recognition of Trump’s contribution to the local economy, “he deserves not one but many keys to the City.”

Boria said the real reason he withdrew the requests was “because of limitations imposed by recent amendments to the City Charter,” adding that he would re-introduce them in “the near future.” (RELATED: See What Happens When Donald Trump’s Hair Gets Wet)

So he did, though the Herald notes that many residents “were upset that because it was broached after the public comments portion of the meeting—and since it was not on the posted agenda—they were not able to weigh in.”

The lone dissenting vote came from Councilwoman Christi Fraga, called the maneuver “disturbing,” and said, “I just wish he [Boria] would have had a little bit more consideration for our residents.”

This is not the first key-related controversy that Boria has endured. The Miami New Times reported on Friday that Boria “had previously come under scrutiny from some residents for going on something of a ‘key spree,’ by awarding keys to the city left and right.”

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