The New York state Senate approved a bill Thursday that could trigger the renaming of a Hudson Valley state park which for years has carried the name of former President Donald Trump.
“New York’s Senate just gave Donald Trump an early birthday present: we’re stripping his name from a state park,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman, a sponsor of the bill said. “Trump has dishonored the state and should not be honored with a state park named for him.”
The New York Daily News reported that the measure directs the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, to launch a legal review into renaming the largely unused “Donald J. Trump State Park,” which straddles the border of Westchester and Putnam Counties along a state parkway.
The review could pave the way for a name change for the park and the installation of new signs.
Lawmakers have sought for years to rename the 435-acre site which Trump donated to the state in 2006 after hitting roadblocks in plans to convert the land into the 18-hole championship golf course and country club he envisioned after purchasing it for $2 million in the early 1990s.
If Trump’s name is eventually blotted from the park, it would appear to be an answer to numerous longstanding public calls for its renaming, including a petition in 2015 that gathered 2,800 signatures on change.org called “Rename Donald J. Trump State Park to… anything else.”
