Is the art too saccharine? Obsolete on arrival? Does it tell only an Italian story and not one that reflects the diversity of Wooster Square today? Has the community not truly been engaged in the process? And where in the original charge to artists a year ago was there permission to pave over more than a thousand square feet of precious green space?

Those questions were engaged politely but passionately Tuesday night via Zoom as 30 members of the Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team (DWSCMT) viewed a proposed design the city-nominated Wooster Square Monument Committee has come up with to replace the Christopher Columbus Statue removed last year from Wooster Square Park.