A New York Democrat has proposed legislation to rename Donald J. Trump State Park to memorialize Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman who died while protesting a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in August.
“The strength of our diversity and the values we hold high are even reflected in the state’s park system,” New York Assembly Member Nily Rozic, a Queens Democrat, wrote in a petition accompanying the bill. “We believe that re-naming Donald J. Trump State Park to Heather D. Heyer State Park would not only honor her name and her activism, but serve as a reminder of how important it is for us to denounce those who seek to divide us.”
This is not the first time New York lawmakers have tried to change the name of the undeveloped, currently closed park, which stretches across Westchester and Putnam Counties, according to the New York Times. Another similar petition was circulated in 2015.
Trump donated the land to the State of New York in 2006 after failing to obtain town approvals to build a golf course on the parcel. Trump representatives have argued that naming rights was a condition of the gift.
