NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa said that if he’s mayor he’ll erect a statue of Christopher Columbus on Staten Island, possibly by retrieving one from a nearby city that has removed it.
Speaking to reporters at the Columbus Day Parade on Monday, Sliwa said he wants to bring a statue of Columbus to Staten Island in addition to preserving the current statues in the other boroughs, including at Columbus Circle.
“Of all the places that does not have a Christopher Columbus statue—Staten Island, which some people call ‘Staten Italy,’” Sliwa said, referring to it as “the most Italian of boroughs.”
The Guardian Angels founder said if he were mayor he'd reach out to cities like Trenton, Newark, Bridgeport and New Haven, which have put their Columbus statues “in mothballs,” and ask if New York can have their statue to put up on Staten Island.
“Give us that statue, you’re not doing anything with it,” Sliwa said he’d tell the cities. “All it’s got is cobwebs and moth balls in warehouses that you’re paying for. We’ll take it off your hands and position it at Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane or out in Mount Loretto.”
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