NEW YORK (AP) — Will President Donald Trump ’s name grace one of the most famous -- and sometimes maligned -- landmarks in his hometown of New York City?
The Republican administration this week urged leading U.S. Senators to rename Penn Station as it undertakes a projected $8 billion
redesign of the dreary, underground Manhattan transit hub that also happens to be the busiest in the western hemisphere.But the U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy,
in a Wednesday letter seeking congressional funding approval for the rehab and other major transportation priorities, stopped short of saying what the station’s moniker should be changed to.
Spokespersons for the transportation agency provided the letter but didn’t respond to follow up questions Thursday.
Duffy has made it no secret he would welcome seeing his current boss’ name etched across the rail station’s facade.
“I imagine you’re asking, ’Is this going to be Trump Station?' ” the former Wisconsin congressman said last summer as officials sought bids for the project’s master developer. “I think that has a nice ring to it.”
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, when asked earlier this year, simply responded: “ Why not?”
In his second White House stint, the term-limited Republican has sought to burnish his legacy through public works projects, from a massive new White House ballroom to a triumphal arch and a failed attempt to rename the Kennedy Center. Earlier this month, Florida's Palm Beach airport changed its name to the President Donald J. Trump International Airport.
Trump, for his part, has acknowledged a possible name change was floated in talks with the Senate’s top Democrat, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, of New York.
But he pushed back at the notion that he suggested it in exchange for unfreezing federal funding for the Gateway project, a major rail tunnel running under the Hudson River from Penn Station into New Jersey.
“Chuck Schumer suggested that to me, about changing the name of Penn Station to Trump Station,” Trump said earlier this year aboard Air Force One.
At the same time, he argued that it doesn’t make much sense for such a major New York landmark to be named after another state.
“I LOVE Pennsylvania, but it is a direct competitor to New York, and ‘eating New York’s lunch!’,” he said on his social media platform Truth Social as he stressed the renaming idea was “brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me.”
New York's Pennsylvania Station, like a handful of others in the country, is named after the Pennsylvania Railroad, the now defunct passenger rail company that built the once grand midtown station.
Opened in 1910, the original station was considered a marvel of the Beaux Arts style, with imposing, Roman-style columns and an expansive waiting area.
It was razed in 1963 to make way for Madison Square Garden, forcing commuters to navigate cramped corridors and dingy train platforms underneath the famous arena.
Recently released renderings call for a return to the hub’s original classical style, with a stone facade, rows of columns and a grand concourse with soaring ceilings. 0ne inside wall also bears Trump’s seal and name.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Manhattan Democrat, said Duffy’s letter underscores how the Trump administration is “waging a hostile takeover of Penn Station” and seeking to “strip control” from local authorities.
“I strongly oppose this ridiculous proposal and am once again demanding answers on the funding,” he wrote on X. “New York taxpayers and transit riders must not be forced to foot the bill for a Trump vanity project.”
The Riders Alliance, a local transit advocacy group, said the renaming idea was “another huge red flag” that the Penn Station project could become “another multibillion dollar vanity boondoggle.”
“We should be talking about improving service, saving time and money, not monuments, ribbon cuttings or nameplates,” spokesperson Danny Pearlstein said in a statement.
The Trump administration ordered Amtrak, the national passenger rail service, to assume control of the massive redesign last year.
For years, the Penn Station project had been mired in political infighting among the local transit agencies that use the station. James Dolan, the billionaire owner of the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers, has also strongly opposed any plans to relocate MSG.
The current plans would keep the famous arena, where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce married earlier this month, but demolish a theater located on the site.
Spokespersons for Amtrak referred questions to the federal transportation department. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New Jersey Transit, which run trains from the station, didn’t immediately comment.
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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo
