ALBANY, N.Y. — The state Senate approved a bill Thursday that could lead to New York removing former President Donald Trump’s name from a Hudson Valley state park.
Lawmakers have sought to strip Trump’s name from the largely unused parkland, which straddles the border of Westchester and Putnam Counties, for years.
Trump donated the 400-acre parcel to the state in 2006 after failing to convert the land into a golf course.
The measure, awaiting approval in the Assembly, directs the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to conduct a legal review and figure out how to go about renaming the site, which has proved to be a bit of a legal quagmire.
“New York’s Senate just gave Donald Trump an early birthday present: we’re stripping his name from a state park,” said Democratic Sen. Brad Hoylman, the bill’s lead sponsor. “Trump has dishonored the state and should not be honored with a state park named for him.”
Democratic Assemblywoman Nily Rozic is carrying the measure in the Assembly. In the past, Rozic has suggested naming the green space in honor of Heather Heyer, who was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Others have pushed for the park to be named in honor of folk musician Pete Seeger.
The near vacant land is considered a “passive park,” with no amenities and is not listed on the state’s parks website. One of the few markings reminding New Yorkers of its existence is a sign on the Taconic State Parkway.
