Cutting Through the Nonsense Surrounding Trump State Park
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In response to last week’s letter by Michelle Croft (“An Open Letter to Assemblywoman Levenberg on Renaming Trump State Park”) and all the calls to rename Trump State Park:
- There is no Trump State Park. There are signs on the Taconic saying that there is but there is only a desolate field (no athletic fields, nature trails or swimming p..ools) with a gate around it blocking access.
- The “donation” was a tax scam. The Trump Organization bought the property to either build homes or a golf course (there are different stories about the intent) but the locals alarmed at the probability of turning two-lane Wood Street into an unusable road fought and fought any rezoning – and won. Trump then donated the land to the state to get out from under the taxes. The state, whether from complicity or lack of funds, has done nothing to turn the land into anything – but put up the misleading signs on the Taconic.
- The name of the so-called park cannot be “changed” to anything. (And periodic requests for funding to do so may be either from lack of knowledge or are other scams.) According to information that I received from former Yorktown supervisor and current Assemblyman Matt Slater, under the terms of the “donation,” if the Trump name is taken off the property, title to the property returns to the Trump family or organization.
Items 1 and 2 above are definitely true and item 3 is verifiable. If true, my recommendation is to take the name off the property and stop pretending that it is a state park, return the property to the Trumps and tax it – and stop spreading nonsense about the history of the present eyesore.
John F. McMullen
Yorktown
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