Bravo to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo for putting a stop to the absurd attempts by activists to remove the iconic Christopher Columbus statue at Manhattan’s Columbus Circle.
The monument honoring Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle — which survived an attempt to have it removed — will now be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Park Service last month added the 126-year-old, 76-foot statue near Central Park to its list of protected landmarks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday in a statement.
“The Columbus Monument is revered by the Italian-American community in New York and stands as a tribute to the ways our state has welcomed immigrants from around the globe,” Cuomo said….
Mayor Bill de Blasio had formed a committee to decide whether certain monuments and works of art in the city should stay or go after Confederate monuments were removed or relocated in the South.
The committee spared the Columbus statue, which critics said glorified the explorer whose “discovery” of North America contributed to deadly epidemics, genocide and the enslavement of indigenous people and Africans….
It’s good that Andrew Cuomo did this, but my cynical side thinks he did it, in part, to get some good will for his naming the new bridge across the Hudson river for his father, Mario.