NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A unanimous vote Monday means a controversial Thomas Jefferson statue will move from City Hall to the New-York Historical Society for the foreseeable future.
The city’s Public Design Commission voted to approve long-term loan after the same group was also in unanimous agreement over moving the 188-year-old monument last month.
The statue now moves to the Upper West Side museum, where officials said it will be presented with proper information next to it.
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“The statue will be given appropriate historical context, including details of Thomas Jefferson’s complicated legacy,” the society said in a statement. "His contributions as a founder and draftsman of the Declaration of Independence and the contradiction between his vision of human equality and his ownership of enslaved people—and the statue’s original purpose as a tribute to Jefferson’s staunch defense of freedom of religion and separation of church and state.”
Several City Council members had long advocated for the Jefferson statue removal over his slave ownership and beliefs.
Concerns had been raised over the museum being privately run and a $22 admission fee for adults, but “pay-as-you-wish” Fridays may have helped push that to the side for approval.
The statue is set to be displayed in the museum’s lobby for six months before moving their Library Reading Room — which are both accessible without a ticket, the society said in a statement.
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