Residents of Brooklyn Heights, New York have started a petition, campaigning to rename the rapper’s local park, Squibb Park, in honour of the Beastie Boys‘ Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch.
Yauch was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and succumbed to the disease earlier this month, aged 47.
Billboard reports that Squibb Park is currently undergoing renovations to be turned into a skate park.
The campaign’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/adamyauchpark, writes: “Squibb Park in Brooklyn Heights, NY is currently undergoing a transformation into a skateboarding facility and gateway to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn Heights Blog community believes that it would be a fitting tribute to name it after Brooklyn Heights native, musician, humanitarian Adam Yauch (MCA) of the Beastie Boys.”
They continue: “Adam Yauch Park sits directly across the street from the Harry Chapin Playground which is also named after a great Brooklyn Heights resident, musician and humanitarian.”
Yauch was also recently honoured by the local government in his home state. The rapper, who grew up in New York and lived there throughout his life, was honoured by the city’s state senate last week.
They passed a resolution which declared that it was “mourning the death of famed rapper and activist Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch”, writing that he “exemplified New York” and helped rejuvenate the city during the band’s influential early years.
The senate also praised Yauch’s work outside of the band, which included his pro-Tibet Milarepa Fund and the film distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories. In the resolution, they described him as “a man of colossal talent and charisma”.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Green Day, Eminem, Weezer, Tom Morello and Slash are among the bands and musicians who have paid tribute to Yauch, who died on May 4.