Trump’s Name Removed From NYC Apartments, Residents Rejoice

While Donald Trump is busy naming Nazi sympathizers, (alleged) Islamophobes, and noted racists to prominent White House positions, New York City buildings are busy removing his name from their facades. The structures at 140, 160 and 180 Riverside Boulevard, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, used to be known and numbered as "Trump Place." Now, their landlord is striking the giant golden "TRUMP"s from their fronts after a raft of resident complaints and petitions. Trump's real estate company developed the properties in the 1990s and sold them to Equity Residential in 2005. The Chicago-based company allowed the letters to stay on the buildings under a "use of name" agreement, which satisfies Trump's urge to have his name on things he has nothing to do with, with the Trump Organization.

They're coming down to much rejoicing. 300 people, many of them residents, created a petition to get the name off the property. It makes sense, since 75% of their district went for Clinton, according to DNAInfo. Equity Residential tells the Guardian they hope to make the buildings more attractive to potential tenants. “We are in the process of rebranding the buildings using their street addresses as the property names,” Marty McKenna, a spokesman for Equity Residential, tells the newspaper. “The goal is to assume a more neutral building identity that will appeal to all current and future renters.” Trump relied on foreign capital, as he always does, to complete the project. The New York Times says they were developed in conjunction with investors from Hong Kong. A Trump spokesman told the Guardian the name change was completed as part of a pre-existing agreement. Watch a news story about the letters being removed below.