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For once, Donald Trump's name was actually taken off of something.
On Wednesday, workers removed the name "Trump" from signage on a series of New York apartment buildings on Wednesday in hopes that people won't associate the building with a president-elect who was endorsed by the KKK.
SEE ALSO:Donald Trump's press-dodging should freak you out, and this is whyThe buildings, located at 140, 160 and 180 Riverside Boulevard on the west side of Manhattan, were developed by Trump's real estate company in the 1990s but were sold to Chicago-based Equity Residential in 2005, which kept the signage and name in place under a "use of name" agreement with the Trump Organization.
But with the increase in controversy around Trump's presidential campaign, particularly the accusations of sexual assault, several residents expressed disgust with living in a building with his name in giant gold letters.
(And Trump does love gold and his name in giant letters.)
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One resident told CBS New York, “It’s been an embarrassment to live in a building with Trump’s name. I wasn’t happy about it when I moved in, but he wasn’t running for president."
Over 600 people, including 300 residents of the buildings, signed a petition to have the name removed. Linda Gottlieb, one of the residents who started the petition, told the Times, “We won. We used the power of protest to say that we don’t have to accept the spread of the man’s influence into our very homes. To me, it feels like a cleansing of the place where I live.”
A workman holds up the letter "T" as they remove the letters from a building formerly known as Trump Place in New York.Credit: AP Photo/Seth WenigBut the people who now own the building beg to differ.
Marty McKenna, a spokesman for Equity Residential, told The Guardian, “We are in the process of rebranding the buildings using their street addresses as the property names. The goal is to assume a more neutral building identity that will appeal to all current and future renters.”
Both McKenna and Equity chairman Sam Zell denied that resident complaints had anything to do with the change.
Appearing on CNBC, Zell said the "use of name" agreement had expired and once Trump entered the presidential race, Equity decided to rename the buildings to rename neutral from any political fights.
Still, there was probably much rejoicing throughout the buildings. According to a map published by DNA Info, Hillary Clinton received 75.07 percent of the vote (563 votes) in the buildings' election district while Trump received 20.93 percent (157 votes).
Credit: DNA InfoWhatever the case, some organizations arestarting to distance themselves from the Trump brand, including a trio of NBA teams (the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, and Dallas Mavericks) who are now avoiding Trump-owned hotels following the election.
TopicsDonald Trump