- A federal court in Pennsylvania has upheld an Italian heritage group’s challenge to the removal of a statue of Christopher Columbus from a Pittsburgh park.
- The dispute over the Schenley Park statue has been sent back to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court for further consideration.
- Sons and Daughters of America in Italy filed the lawsuit in October 2020 after the Pittsburgh Arts Commission recommended that the statue be removed.
The Pennsylvania Court of Appeals has upheld an Italian heritage group’s challenge to the city of Pittsburgh’s efforts to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from a city park.
A federal court on Friday sent the dispute over the 13-foot-tall bronze and granite Schenley Park statue back to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court for further consideration of issues raised by opponents of its removal.
The Sons and Daughters of America in Italy filed the lawsuit in October 2020 after the Pittsburgh Arts Commission voted to remove the statue, and then-Mayor Bill Peduto recommended it be removed. The group argued that the mayor could not override a 1955 City Council ordinance that authorized the installation of the 800-pound statue. City attorneys argued that the bill was more like a resolution accepting the gift, and no City Council action was needed to rescind it.
Rhode Island’s much-criticized Columbus statue reappears in a nearby town after being removed three years ago
Court of Common Pleas Judge John McVeigh Jr., after pleading with both sides for two years to find solutions such as relocation, decided in 2022 that the statue represents government speech because it is located in a city-owned park. It was decided that But the commonwealth court ruled Friday that McVeigh erred in concluding that the group’s claims were “totally barred,” and that its claims of violations of the city’s charter, codes and ordinances were “an unrelated procedural matter.” The court issued a letter rejecting the court’s so-called idea that it is “a farce of logic.”
A person walks past the statue of Christopher Columbus in Marconi Square in Philadelphia on December 12, 2022. The Pennsylvania Court of Appeals has kept alive an Italian heritage group’s challenge to the city of Pittsburgh’s efforts to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from the city. city park. The controversy over the Columbus statue has roiled Philadelphia and other cities across the country, with supporters of the city with deep Italian heritage saying they see Columbus as a symbol of that heritage. . (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
The appeals court rejected the group’s challenge to McVeigh’s refusal to remove him from the case.
George Bochet, a Philadelphia lawyer who filed the lawsuit and subsequent appeal on behalf of the group, welcomed the ruling and urged the new mayor to “take the necessary steps to reach a resolution without further costly litigation.” I asked him to discuss it with me. A message seeking comment was sent Sunday to a spokesperson for the mayor of Pittsburgh.
The Schenley Park statue has been vandalized multiple times and was wrapped in plastic in 2020, but local news reports indicate that while the head remains covered, much of the covering has since been worn away or possibly replaced. It is said to have been removed.
The controversy over Columbus statues has roiled other cities across the country, including Philadelphia, but supporters of a city with deep Italian heritage say they see Columbus as a symbol of that heritage. He says he is thinking about it. But former Mayor Jim Kenney said Columbus, revered for centuries as an explorer, had a “far more infamous” history of enslaving Native Americans and imposing harsh punishments. .
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After protests over racial injustice and statues erupted in 2020, Kenney ordered the statue, erected in 1876, to be removed as a matter of public safety. However, a judge overturned that decision, saying the city had failed to provide evidence that the removal was necessary for public safety. In December 2022, the plywood box that covered the statue was removed by judicial order. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that groups fighting to keep the statue and remove its covering filed a lawsuit last year accusing authorities of conspiring to abuse the legal process in trying to remove the statue. .
Columbus statues were removed near Camden, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware. In Richmond, Virginia, a statue of Christopher Columbus was pulled down, set on fire, and thrown into a lake. In Columbia, South Carolina, the first U.S. city named after Columbus, a statue of the explorer was vandalized several times before being removed. Another vandalized statue in Boston was also removed from its pedestal.
