Central Park Skating Rinks Drop 'Trump' Name, Report Says

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Two Central Park skating rinks operated by the Trump Organization have decided to ditch the president's name ahead of the 2019 skating season, according to reports.

Signage at the Wollman and Lasker rinks in Central Park used to bear Trump's name, but the signs have been replaced or covered up in recent weeks, the Washington Post first reported. The name was removed from boards surrounding the rinks, the skate rental stand and the entrances of the rinks, according to the report.

City parks officials told the Washington Post that the Trump Organization signaled it was going to re-brand the facilities as early as August, but did not provide a reason why.

The Trump Organization took ownership of the city Parks Department concessions in the 80s when he agreed to finish renovations at the ice skating rinks, famously completing work that the city had struggled with while remaining under the city's budget. Both rinks have stayed under Trump control ever since.

The re-branding of the Central Park rinks isn't the first time the president's company has removed his name from a New York City asset. In 2017, the organization nixed the "Trump" branding when replacing a sign at the Central Park Carousel. That same year, parents at the Upper East Side private school Dalton decided to cancel a school event at the Wollman Rink due to its ties to the president.

Despite the removal of Trump's name, the Wollman and Lasker rinks continue to be operated by the Trump Organization. In 2018, City Councilmember Mark Levine urged New York City to cut ties with the president's business. The lawmaker — who represents parts of the Upper West Side, Harlem and Washington Heights — said that Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen's guilty plea to campaign finance laws represents "evidence that the Trump Organization has been deeply entangled in a criminal conspiracy."

There's legal precedent for the city Parks Department to cut ties with the Trump Organization, Levine claimed. In 2011, the Parks Department terminated the contract of a company called East Coast Golf, Inc. — which operated a golf course in Marine Park, Brooklyn — due to links to organized crime, Levine said.

Read the full Washington Post article here.