Removal Baltimore’s Christopher Columbus statue stirs emotions, from horror to glee
After protesters heaved a marble statue of Christopher Columbus into Baltimore’s Jones Falls Saturday night, consigning it to a resting place amid polluted muck and trash, the reactions ranged from horror to glee. “Bye,” was the one-word tweet from Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey, who has been calling to rename another Columbus memorial in...
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora to hold discussion about city's Columbus statue
Tossed into the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and beheaded in Waterbury, Conn., Christopher Columbus had a rough Independence Day. The fate of a Trenton statue honoring Genoa, Italy’s infamous explorer gets discussed on Monday as Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora hosts a 3 p.m. discussion at City Hall. Gusciora has invited several local community members for...
Christopher Columbus statue near Little Italy brought down, tossed into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor
A crowd of shouting protesters yanked down the Christopher Columbus statue near Little Italy, dragged it to the edge of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and rolled it with a splash into the water as fireworks went off around the city on the night of the Fourth of July. Dedicated in 1984, the statue is the latest monument in the U.S. to fall this year...
Preserve and Protect the Columbus Sculpture in Scotch Plains
On Monday October 12, 1998, the Scotch Plains Community gathered around the Village Green and specifically for the dedication of a three-ton marble sculpture honoring Christoforo Colombo during its annual Columbus Day Festivities. Former State Senate President and Scotch Plains native Donald DiFrancesco called it, "a fabulous tribute to the work et...
Supporters want to move Little Italy’s Columbus statue before activists tear it down
In October 1984, when Ronald Reagan spoke in Baltimore at the dedication of Little Italy’s new Columbus statue, he extolled “the son of a Genoa weaver” as “a man of vision” who turned a “vast wilderness. . . into an economic dynamo.” Reagan complimented the city for developing its Inner Harbor in “that same spirit” and further likened the navigator...
San Rocco festival canceled
San Rocco Festa won’t happen in 2020. Organizers of Beaver County’s three-day Italian festival, which debuted in 1925 in Aliquippa, agreed that efforts to combat the coronavirus made it necessary to cancel this year’s event scheduled for mid-August. “Instead, we will be focusing this year on the most important parts of our celebration: the San Rocc...
What a Family That Lost 5 to the Virus Wants You to Know
Each morning they awake with fingers curled inward, stiffened like claws. Their schedules are dictated by doctors’ appointments, physical therapy sessions and bouts of exhaustion. After weeks on ventilators, two siblings remain too weak to work even as their medical bills mount. But at a table filled with several members of a tight-knit New Jersey...
Standing by Their Man: In East Hanover, ‘Italian Lives Matter’
Anthony Spadone came from South Carolina – arriving he said just prior to the quarantine – to save the statue. That would be a statue of “Cristoforo Colombo,” whose chiseled likeness gazes over Ridgedale Avenue, this town’s main drag. Sure, Spadone conceded, there theoretically could be better representations of Italian culture than Columbus, but h...
Petition to KEEP the Christopher Columbus statue in Parsippany
We, the people of Parsippany, reject the calls to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus. Built in 1992 under the Priore administration, the Columbus statue has stood on the corner of 46 and 202 for nearly 30 years. It cost taxpayers no money as it was paid for by UNICO and funds raised by our Italian community. For the past 3 decades, Parsippan...
Trenton to say Goodbye Columbus
A protest that pressed for the removal of Christopher Columbus’ statue from a park named after the infamous explorer attracted a small crowd Thursday evening. Removal appears imminent although Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora plans a meeting and community discussion before rendering his decision. For the record, emotions and thoughts concerning Columbus...
Columbus statue in East Hanover a target after George Floyd death
Christopher Columbus statues have joined the ranks of Confederate and other memorials being taken down in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in Minnesota. In East Hanover, the target is the statue of Columbus in Village Square Park on Ridgedale Avenue placed by the East Hanover Italian American Club in the 1990s. The club is now...
Christopher Columbus statue to come down in Atlantic City
The Christopher Columbus monument, in the resort since 1958, will be taken down from its location on Arctic Avenue at the base of the Atlantic City Expressway. The statue, which is on city property but funded by the Casino Redevelopment Investment Authority for upkeep and relocations, will be moved to avert potential vandalism. But the statue’s...