Treatment of controversial city monuments fosters discussion at Borough Hall
As part of a series of public hearings on the treatment and fate of public monuments in New York City, Brooklynites from every walk of life descended upon Borough Hall on Tuesday, November 21 to give their two cents on how to handle existing monuments and statues of controversial figures across the five boroughs.
The hearing was hosted by the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments and Markers, which has been tasked with proposing guidelines for how to deal with the controversies that arise from already in-place monuments and markers.
While the commission’s co-chair Tom Finkelpearl encouraged a broader discussion about the city monuments in terms of today’s political climate, statues of Christopher Columbus (such as the one at the epicenter of Columbus Circle in Manhattan and the one in Borough Hall plaza) were at the forefront of the at times heated debate, the majority of the audience speaking solely in terms of removal.