South Philly Wins Injunction To Protect Columbus Statue
By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net
The rumor was that the 20-foot high marble statue of Christopher Columbus was going to get the Frank Rizzo treatment from Mayor Jim Kenney.
The story making the rounds in South Philly was that the Kenney administration was planning to take down the Columbus statute between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. Sunday. And, to add insult to injury, the city had supposedly hired a non-union contractor to do the job.
So attorney George Bochetto went into Common Pleas Court on behalf of some South Philadelphia neighbors with a petition for an emergency hearing. On Sunday night, Judge Marlene Lachman issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city from moving the statue until a second hearing could be held at 2 p.m. today.
At today’s hearing, according to Bochetto, Judge Paula Patrick ruled that if the city wants to move the Columbus statue, they’re going to have obey the city’s home rule charter, and go before the Art Commission, and hold public hearings on the matter.
“I’m just delighted that we can proceed with these kind of issues in a fair and deliberative way so that everybody has an opportunity to be heard, and we just don’t succumb to a mob,” Bochetto said.
In court, Bochetto said, the city solicitor contended that he had written assurances that the Kenney administration wasn’t planning to move the Columbus statue. But Bochetto countered that he had received similar written assurances before the Rizzo statute was toppled in the middle of the night.
https://www.bigtrial.net/2020/06/south-philly-wins-injunction-to-keep.html?m=1