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It’s hard to imagine needing a hobby more than members of a group called Friends of Marconi Plaza. According to Philadelphia Investigator, the local group undertook the noblest of crusades: to fight to defend a statue dedicated to Christopher Columbus. And on Friday, a judge who was once on the list of speakers for a QAnon-related event ruled that the plywood box covering the statue must be removed.
City officials covered the statue of Christopher Columbus in Marconi Square with plywood last year, on Applicant reports, as protests for racial justice galvanized efforts to suppress it. Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration said the structure was a protective measure while officials decided on the statue’s future.
He came after an increasingly unbalanced battle over the monument. Vigilante Columbus supporters showed up with baseball bats and guns in June 2020, ready to fight anyone who tries to bring down the statue. Some witnesses said that the statue’s defenders assaulted people in the park and that a South Philly police captain was later reassigned due to his mismanagement of the clashes.
This summer, however, Conservative Judge Paula Patrick ruled the statue should remain. “It is baffling for this Court how the City of Philadelphia wants to remove the statue without any legal basis,” Patrick wrote in his seven-page decision in August, by ABC affiliate, 6 Action News. “The whole of the City’s argument and file is devoid of any legal basis.
Local media noted at the time that Patrick’s decision overturned the City of Philadelphia’s Licensing and Inspection Review Board and, later, the Philadelphia Historical Commission.
Patrick, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for state Supreme Court seat earlier this year, has been embroiled in his own drama. In April, she denied having ever planned to attend a QAnon-affiliated event, although she interviewed conspiracy theory supporters. She told the Applicant she had no idea why she was on the list of speakers.
On Friday, Patrick decided the city could “erect a clear structure encompassing the statue for protection” but had to get rid of the plywood box. Kenney’s office has already appealed the decision and has no plans to remove the box in the meantime.
Meanwhile, the statue’s “supporters”, represented by attorney George Bochetto, are determined to have Columbus again on display unhindered by the end of the Columbus Day parade on Sunday.
The Applicant quoted Bochetto as saying, “If the city doesn’t remove it, we’ll remove it for them.” “
A representative for Kenney, Kevin Lessard, responded with a statement: “The City has appealed and will not remove any boxes until this appeal is decided. In addition, the destruction of public property is a crime, and anyone, including George Bochetto, participating in such an action will be held responsible for their actions. “
On Friday, President Joe Biden became the first president to recognize both Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day, noting the explorer’s accomplishments but also the “devastation” of Western exploration on Native Americans.
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