Donald J. Trump State Park

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Donald J. Trump State Park
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Entrance sign to Donald J. Trump State Park
Donald J. Trump State Park is located in New York
Donald J. Trump State Park
Donald J. Trump State Park is located in USA
Donald J. Trump State Park
Location of Donald J. Trump State Park
Type State park (undeveloped)
Location Westchester and Putnam counties, New York
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Area 436 acres (1.76 km2)
Created 2006 (2006)
Operated by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

Donald J. Trump State Park is a 436-acre (1.8 km2) undeveloped state park located within the towns of Yorktown and Putnam Valley in Westchester County and Putnam County, New York.

The park consists of property donated to New York State in 2006 by Donald Trump. Maintenance of the park was halted in 2010 due to budget constraints, and the park remains largely undeveloped as of 2015.

History

Having previously purchased the property for $2 million in the 1990s, the land for the park was donated in 2006 by Donald Trump, for whom the park was named.[1][2] The land was donated after Trump was unable to gain town approvals to develop a private golf course on the property.[3] At the time of its donation, Trump claimed the parcel to be worth $100 million, and was able to use the donation as a tax write-off.[4]

New York State announced the park's closure due to budget cuts in February 2010.[5] It was questioned whether the closure was necessary since the operating budget for the park was only $2500 a year and it was maintained by workers from the nearby Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park.[3] Although Trump threatened to take the parkland back after the closure was announced,[3] his attempt was unsuccessful and the land remained in the control of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.[6]

An attempt to convert a portion of the park's French Hill section for use as a dog park in 2010 revealed that at least one of the park's abandoned buildings contained asbestos.[7] By 2012, the planned dog park remained on hold due to difficulties raising funds for fences and asbestos abatement.[8]

As of 2015, the park remains officially closed and is not listed at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation park locator,[9] although large signs along the nearby Taconic State Parkway continue to direct visitors to Donald J. Trump State Park.[4][10] However, a 2015 visit by The Rachel Maddow Show found no sign of any recent upkeep; instead, the publicly accessible land was found to contain crumbling graffiti-covered buildings, empty map kiosks, and weed-choked parking lots.[11]

In late 2015, State Senator Daniel Squadron introduced an "Anything But Trump Act" to change the park's name.[12] Several suggestions for a name change were offered by elected officials. Assemblyman Charles D. Lavine suggested that the park be named for Peter Salem, an African American who served in the American Revolutionary War and is thought by some historians to have been Muslim,[13] while the district's U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney suggested that the park be named after folk singer Pete Seeger.[14] In response, Trump suggested that New York State return the park's land to his ownership.[15]

Geography

The largely undeveloped park is subdivided into two sections, the 282-acre (1.1 km2) Indian Hill parcel in northern Jefferson Valley (part of the Town of Yorktown in Westchester County) and Putnam Valley (Putnam County), and the 154-acre (0.6 km2) French Hill parcel in southern Yorktown Heights, fully within the Town of Yorktown. The parkland features a mix of continuous forest, open meadows, and several large wetlands. Headwaters for two streams, French Hill Brook and Dogwood Creek, are located within the French Hill section of the park.[1]

See also

References

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