Preservationists argue that the Onondaga Historical Association’s design competition is a pretext for removing the Christopher Columbus statue from Syracuse’s Columbus Circle.
By Truby Chiaviello, PRIMO Magazine
The battle continues.
The Columbus Monument Corporation this week unveiled plans to pursue legal action against the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA), accusing the organization of conducting a secretive and deceptive design competition intended to facilitate the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue that has stood in Downtown Syracuse since 1934.
In a November 9 announcement, the Columbus Monument Corp. said it intends to initiate an Article 78 proceeding to compel the OHA to release information concerning its controversial “Full Circle Design Competition.”
Columbus defenders maintain that OHA, although formally a private nonprofit association, has been acting at the direction of the city of Syracuse and should therefore be subject to New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).
This video shows that the OHA “Full Circle Design Competition” was specifically undertaken at the direction of former Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and former Chief of Staff Greg Loh, together with the OHA, with the privately-expressed goal of removing the historic Columbus monument from the Columbus Circle site, according to the Columbus Monument Corp.:
At the center of the dispute is the 40-foot monument that has stood for 92 years, honoring Christopher Columbus and the contributions of Italian immigrants to the city. The Columbus Monument Corp. contends that the competition, undertaken during the administration of former Mayor Ben Walsh, was designed from the outset to achieve a single objective: removal of the Columbus statue.
Former Onondaga County Executive Nick Pirro, vice president of the Columbus Monument Corp., questioned why the city would seek to redesign Columbus Circle when numerous other public spaces could benefit from improvements.
“Our first question is why is it even necessary for this community to reimagine Columbus Circle when there are so many other locations in the community that can be considered? Because the goal is to remove this statue and nothing else,” Pirro stated.
Comply Now
The Columbus Monument Corp. alleges that the OHA has failed to provide meaningful opportunities for public participation in the design competition.
Pirro described the process as a charade intended to create the appearance of community involvement, while excluding the public from consequential decisions.
Anthony Ilacqua, a Columbus Monument Corp. board member whose grandfather served as treasurer of the Columbus Monument Association (the original organization that facilitated the installation of the statue), raised questions about the competition’s objectives and financing.
“Why couldn’t OHA seek designs that preserved the statue and monument as the centerpiece of the Circle?” Ilacqua asked.
He pointed to what he described as evidence in OHA financial statements that a $1.8 million Mellon Foundation grant was intended to support relocation of the monument.
The Columbus Monument Corp. also wants to know who selected the competition’s curatorial committee, the qualifications of its nine members, how participating designers were chosen, what instructions they received, and how the three finalists were selected.
The organization argues that these questions are essential to determining whether the competition represents a legitimate public planning exercise or an effort to justify a decision already made.
According to the Columbus Monument Corp., OHA has declined to fulfill its information requests on the grounds that it is a private nonprofit educational organization. The proposed legal action will challenge that position by arguing that OHA effectively functioned as an agent of the municipal government.
For members of Syracuse’s Italian American community, the controversy extends far beyond questions of urban design. The Columbus monument represents the sacrifices and accomplishments of generations of immigrants who helped build the city and sought to commemorate their heritage through a permanent public memorial. “This beautiful artwork by a noted Italian artist is a Syracuse treasure, and a beautiful living memorial to our immigrant ancestors,” Frank Malfitano, a Columbus Monument Corp. board member, declared.
Columbus Hater
The Columbus Monument Corp. directed particular criticism toward former Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, whose administration supported efforts to remove the statue, arguing that Walsh was the only Syracuse mayor in the monument’s 92-year history to publicly advocate for its removal. The organization contrasted his position with that of his grandfather, former Mayor William F. Walsh, who served from 1962 to 1969 and whom monument supporters remember as an ally of the Italian American community.
The Columbus Monument Corp. also questioned the allocation of public resources toward redesigning Columbus Circle when other areas of Syracuse, including land expected to become available following removal of the Interstate 81 viaduct, could benefit from redevelopment.
Rigged?
The anticipated Article 78 proceeding could bring renewed scrutiny to the relationship between the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) and the city of Syracuse.
The central legal question will be whether OHA’s involvement in the Full Circle Design Competition makes it subject to public disclosure requirements despite its nonprofit status.
The Columbus Monument Corp. believes that obtaining the requested records will reveal how the competition was organized, who directed its objectives, and whether preserving the existing statue was ever seriously considered.
The November 9 announcement did not include a response from the OHA or the city of Syracuse to the corporation’s latest allegations.
For the monument’s defenders, the dispute is ultimately about more than a statue. It concerns the preservation of Italian American history, the intentions of the families who financed the memorial, and the public’s right to participate in decisions affecting a landmark that has occupied a prominent place in Syracuse for nearly a century.
The Columbus Monument Corp. and PRIMO Magazine are proud members of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (COPOMIAO).