An Allegheny County judge declared that Pittsburgh officials are free to remove from Schenley Park the divisive Christopher Columbus statue, the central figure in a years-long legal battle pitting history against itself.
The statue, which has been vandalized numerous times, remained standing and wrapped in plastic on Tuesday, as it has for nearly two years.
Maria Montano, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Gainey's Office, said the administration is "reviewing the opinion and looking at the next steps moving forward."
The Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA) and its attorneys filed the lawsuit in October 2020 following a vote by the Pittsburgh Art Commission to remove the statue from the city park, and then-Mayor Bill Peduto recommended its removal, as well.
Attorneys for the ISDA could not immediately be reached for comment.
The 800-pound statue of the 15th-century explorer and colonizer was built in 1958, three years after the city passed an ordinance allowing the Sons of Columbus to build and install it.
Common Pleas Judge John McVay Jr. had, throughout the two-year saga, urged the two sides to work together to find a solution — perhaps, he'd suggested, relocating the 13-foot statue to a different yet public location.
"The particulars of how to accomplish the agreed upon teachable moment of histories ultimately reached an impasse on the issue of the relocation of the statue and the ISDA's refusal to agree to an alternative location such as a museum or history center," Judge McVay wrote.
The ISDA had argued that removing the statue violated the ordinance that allowed it to be built and the city did not hold an appropriate public hearing on the removal. Other filings by the ISDA along the way alleged that Mr. Peduto had threatened art commission members as a means of influencing their votes.
Judge McVay continued to urge the city and the ISDA to work together despite his dismissal of the latter's complaint, noting that removal of the statue does not mean it must be relegated to a warehouse somewhere.
"Hopefully," Judge McVay wrote, "community leaders in Pittsburgh will become more involved, and the ISDA national leadership and the city of Pittsburgh will be open-minded, and that all parties look toward understanding each other's viewpoints and historical understandings."
Judge McVay's decision rested heavily on previous case law from the U.S. Supreme Court. The case arose when the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah, rejected a proposal by the religious organization Summum to erect a monument in a city park.
The 2009 ruling said that governments have the right to regulate monuments and statues in city-owned parks because they "typically represent government speech."
Judge McVay said that Supreme Court ruling led to his dismissal of the ISDA lawsuit, noting that "the uncontroverted fact remains" that the statue is in Schenley Park on city-owned property.
The argument over who actually owns the statue itself, he said, is moot.
Justice Alito's opinion, Judge McVay wrote, effectively gives the (city of Pittsburgh) the freedom to remove the Christopher Columbus statue.
