Trump's name is being scrubbed from the 2 Central Park ice rinks that helped make his reputation
- Donald Trump's name has been scrubbed from branding at two of his oldest businesses in New York City.
- The Wollman and Lasker ice rinks in Central Park were bought by The Trump Organization in the 1980s, and have always been emblazoned with Trump branding.
- But the Washington Post and ABC7 New York report Trump's name has been booted from center stage on the rinks' branding - either removed entirely or made very small.
- The New York City department of parks and recreation said The Trump Organization told them about the changes in August, but gave no reason.
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Donald Trump's name has been removed or hidden from the branding at the New York City ice rinks which have for decades borne his name, and been a source of repeated boasting.
At two ice skating rinks in Central Park - the Wollman Rink and Lasker Rink - red signs used to spell out "Trump," the Washington Post reported, but recently they've been covered with white tarpaulins.
On other signs the "Trump" name has been moved from front-and-center to the small print at the bottom, which now reads: "Operated by the Trump Organization," the Post said.
Read more: Trump is getting rid of the White House's subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post
The New York City department of parks and recreation was notified of the changes by The Trump Organization in August "but wasn't given a reason why," it told ABC7 NY and the Post.
The Trump Organization has run the rinks since the 1980s, with the rinks helping Trump further his position in the city's commercial real estate market.
The Post points out that the rinks actually saw an income rise of 12% between 2015 to 2018. (Trump announced he would run for president on June 16, 2015.)
"It's a complete rebranding," Geoffrey Croft, of NYC Park Advocates, told the Post. "They've taken off everything. Off the uniforms, everything."
Trump has in the past repeatedly cited the ice rinks as one of his crowning achievements.
"Wait 'till you see what I do," Trump told supporters at a 2016 campaign rally in Iowa. "Remember the Wollman Rink in Central Park? They couldn't do it. I knocked it up in four months."
More recently, in January 2018, Trump used the example of the ice rink as proof he would deliver his Mexico border wall on time and below budget.
He told reporters: "We can build the wall in one year and we can build it for much less money than what they're talking about. Whether it's a Wollman Rink, or whether it's any - I build under budget and I build ahead of schedule."
Almost two years after his comments, the wall has not been built.