Prominent Name Display a Condition in Trump's Donation of Park

Donald Trump says he opposes New York lawmakers who want to take his name off property he donated to the state for a park back in 2006, according to The Journal News.

And while the contract Trump signed giving away the land -- for a large tax write-off -- is unconditional, his lawyer wrote a letter which the state acknowledged, stipulating that the name be prominently displayed, the Gannett Albany Bureau discovered.

The developer and presidential candidate donated 436 acres of land in Yorktown and Putnam Valley to the state in 2006 after he was unable to build a golf course there. The donation of the land, which Trump bought for $2 million and valued at $100 million, was announced at an event which Phil Reisman of The Journal News said included a catering tent, bottles of Trump Ice-brand water and a TV crew.

It is split in half by the Taconic State Parkway.

The land never became a park, but it got named as if it had, with signs for Donald J. Trump State Park along the Taconic and at entrances. At one point the billionaire threatened to sue to get the land back because the state wasn’t using it as a park (he hadn’t given any money for its upkeep and it was a victim of budget cuts during the Great Recession) but that went nowhere.

Seeing the big green sign along the parkway has begun to irritate some and roused others to defense.

A bill in the Assembly has 20 backers -- Democrats.

Meanwhile Assemblywoman Sandra Galef suggests a smaller step might suffice -- just take down the sign on the Taconic, since it points motorists to a park that doesn’t really exist.