A U.S. appeals court in Pennsylvania 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 bronze and granite statue in Schenley Park back to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas for further consideration of objections to its removal.
The Sons and Daughters of Italy in America filed the lawsuit in October 2020 after the Pittsburgh Arts Council voted to remove the statue and then-Mayor Bill Peduto recommended removal. The group believes the mayor cannot overturn a 1955 City Council ordinance that cleared the way for the 800-pound statue to be installed. City attorneys argued that the legislation was more akin to a resolution accepting a gift and would not require council action to repeal it.
Common Pleas Judge John McVay Jr. ruled in 2022 that because the statue was located in a city-owned park, it represented government speech, after urging both sides to take two years to work out solutions such as relocation. But the federal court wrote Friday that McVeigh erred in concluding that the group’s claims were “completely barred” and rejected the alleged alleged violations of the city’s charter, rules and regulations as “irrelevant.” procedural quibbles”.
The appeals court did reject the group’s challenge to McVeigh’s refusal to withdraw from the case.
Philadelphia attorney George Bochetto, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the group and later appealed it, welcomed the ruling and called on the new mayor to “sit down with me and come to a resolution without further expensive litigation. ” sent a message seeking comment on Sunday. 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 much of the covering has been worn away or may have been removed, but the head remains covered.
The controversy over Columbus statues has roiled other cities across the country, including across the state in Philadelphia, where supporters of a city with strong Italian heritage say they see Columbus as a symbol of that heritage. However, former mayor Jim Kenney said Columbus, revered for centuries as an explorer, had a “notorious” history of enslaving indigenous peoples and inflicting harsh punishments.
Following protests over racial injustice and the statue in 2020, Kenney ordered the removal of the 1876 statue, saying it was a matter of public safety. But a judge overturned that decision, saying the city failed to provide evidence that demolition was needed for public safety reasons. In December 2022, the plywood box covering the statue was removed by judicial order. The group fighting to keep the statue and remove the covering filed a lawsuit last year, alleging officials conspired to abuse the legal process in trying to remove the statue, Philadelphia Inquirer the report said.
Columbus statues have been removed near Camden, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware. In Richmond, Virginia, a statue of Christopher Columbus was toppled, burned and thrown into a lake. In Columbia, South Carolina, the first U.S. city named after Columbus, a statue of the explorer was removed after being vandalized multiple times. Another vandalized statue in Boston was also removed from its pedestal.
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
