Former President Donald Trump now faces a trial before the Senate following his impeachment by the House. Having already departed the White House to make way for Joe Biden, lawmakers and residents of suburban New York are now pushing to rename a state park that was named after the former president.
In the days and weeks following the horrific riots at the Capitol last January 6, lawmakers and residents in the suburban area of New York are once again pushing to rename the Donald Trump state park. The underdeveloped 436-acre state park was named after Trump when he donated the land back in 2006, long before he decided to run for president. When requests to have the name changed came up back in 2015, Trump at the time, threatened to take the park back.
New York assemblywoman Sandy Galef, made the push earlier this month to rename the park after George Pataki, the former governor of the state. Pataki also represented the area as an assemblyman and Senator. Galef cited Pataki having lived in the area and his attachment to the park as reasons why the land should be renamed after him.
“There hasn’t been anything named after him and he’s an environmentalist. I think when people think back on his legacy, they’ll think about the environment. And so it just seemed to me that this might be a good naming opportunity,” explained Galef. The assemblywoman added that she would present the bill to rename the park and expressed the concerns that should the name remain unchanged, donors would not be comfortable in seeing their names attached to efforts to maintain the park.
Aside from Galef’s proposition of naming the park after George Pataki, other advocates have stated that the park’s renaming should also be used as a way to make a racial justice commentary. Petitions have circulated to rename the park after either Pete Seeger and Sojourner Truth for their contributions to environmental and racial justice causes.
Previously, Trump was revealed to have offered to give the Medal of Freedom to singer Dolly Parton, who later shared that she had to turn down the offers twice. However, Parton revealed that it was not for political reasons as the first time she was offered, she could not accept as her husband was sick at the time. The second time Parton was offered, the singer revealed that she could not travel due to the pandemic.