New York lawmakers voted on Wednesday to advance a bill that would rename the Donald J. Trump State Park in Upstate New York.
The New York State Assembly’s tourism committee voted 14-7 to advance the bill to remove former President Trump’s name from the 436-acre park in Putnam County.
The Democratic lawmakers argued the park’s name no longer reflects the state’s values, even though Trump donated the property in 2006. They claimed the park has been largely unused since 2015.
“Our parklands should be reflective of New Yorkers that we can be proud of, New Yorkers that have expressed our values,” Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.
Trump gave the state the property after originally intending to put a golf course there. The one condition for his donation was that his name be “prominently displayed at least at each entrance to each property.”
“This is my way of trying to give back,” Trump reportedly said at the time.
When New York lawmakers first proposed changing the park’s name in 2015, Trump threatened to take back the land. He has not since commented on New York’s efforts, though.
The chairman of the tourism committee said he doesn’t foresee any legal challenges from Trump.
“I don’t think [Trump] will have the resources to care when the time comes,” O’Donnell told Politico. “But maybe he would; he’s sufficiently a narcissist.”
Rozic first proposed renaming the park after Heather Heyer, a counter-protester who was killed during the violent clash between alt-right and Black Lives Matter activists in Charlottesville, Va.
But a different Change.org petition asks the state to rename the park after Sojourner Truth, an icon of the abolition and women’s rights movements.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo reportedly supports the move since his administration said at a recent budget hearing that it’s “looking at” helping lawmakers change the name of the park.
