Calls to remove Trump name from Westchester-Putnam state park grow louder

A movement that has been underway in various forms for several years to remove Donald Trump’s name from the Donald J. Trump State Park that covers 436 acres in Westchester and Putnam has resurfaced with renewed vigor due in part to online petitions by the organizations MoveOn and change.org.

MoveOn has been active in promoting various political and social causes for more than 25 years. It counts resistance to policies by Trump and the Republican Party as a significant part of its activities and has decried treatment of migrants, attempts to kill health care for the poor and tax cuts for corporations and billionaires among other things.

About 10 months ago, MoveOn posted online a petition calling for Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature to remove Trump’s name from the Donald J. Trump State Park, which also would end the display of signs bearing his name such as can be seen on the Taconic State Parkway. The petition did not attract much attention and even less in the way of signatories until around June 11, a dozen days after Trump’s May 30 conviction in Manhattan on 34 felony counts. Then, the number of signatories began to skyrocket, reaching 34,760 as of the afternoon of June 13.

Even with its stepped up activity, MoveOn’s petition had not yet come close to a name-change petition started in Jan. 2021 by change.org. That petition had 225,191 signatures as of the afternoon of June 13. A handful of other name-change petitions posted online by change.org had far fewer signatures.

“Donald J. Trump State Park carries a name that does not represent our values as a community,” the MoveOn petition reads. “And yet a New York state park carries the name of a man whose actions have deeply divided our nation, who incited a deadly insurrection to try to overturn a democratic election, who continues to promote lies and profit off of it, and whose tarnished legacy has left a dark mark in our history.”

It had been reported that Trump bought the land for about $2.5 million in 1998 with the intention of building a $10 million golf course. Plans for the golf course did not reach fruition and in 2006 Trump donated the land to New York state. It was reported that he took a sizable tax deduction for the donation. Due to state budget constraints, maintenance at the park was deferred, conditions deteriorated and it was essentially closed in 2010.

Back in 2015, two Democrats in the State Legislature, Sen. Daniel Squadron and Assemblyman Charles Lavine, both Democrats, had introduced legislation that they called the “Anything but Trump Act,” asking for the park to be renamed. It failed to make it into law.

Assembymember Dana Levenberg whose District 95 includes parts of Westchester and Putnam, noted that the park could become one of the most prestigious in the state’s parks system but many people feel that the Trump name is an “impediment to its improvement, deterring interest from donors and visitors.” Last year, Levenberg and State Sen. Brad Hoylman of Manhattan reintroduced legislation to rename the park. They said that the park’s association with the former president is contributing to its neglect and sparse visitation.

“New York State has always been known for welcoming and embracing people of all cultures and backgrounds, and even our park system reflects these values,” the legislators said in a memo associated with the bill. “The names of these parks and green spaces should do the same.”

MoveOn, in urging people to sign its petition, said, “Donald J. Trump State Park carries a name that does not represent our values as a community. And yet a New York state park carries the name of a man whose actions have deeply divided our nation, who incited a deadly insurrection to try to overturn a democratic election, who continues to promote lies and profit off of it, and whose tarnished legacy has left a dark mark in our history.”