Mitchell L. Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at New York University, said that the state park should never have been named for Mr. Trump. “Public parks should be named with care,” he said. “We should not go the route of naming public infrastructure or parks after individuals who have yet to contribute to the public sector.”
Seeking a name change for an institution because of the views of the person it is named after is not unusual. Last month at Princeton University, some students demanded that the university change the name of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs because of Wilson’s racist views.
Wilson served as Princeton’s 13th president, from 1902 to 1910, before becoming president of the United States. Members of Princeton’s Black Justice League are now calling attention to his racist legacy, including his observation that “segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit.”
Mr. Trump’s comments have become a lightning rod as well. On the change.org petition, many signers — including people in Westchester County and New York City, but some from as far away as Idaho and Alabama — have cited his remarks during the presidential campaign.
“I grew up in Yorktown and my parents still live there,” Rebecca Capua of Brooklyn, who signed the petition, wrote on change.org. “It was bad enough having this park named after him before he ran for president. Why don’t we name it after Mussolini or someone less terrible?”