The Columbus, Ohio City Council this week indefinitely tabled an ordinance to spend $253,000 on the possible reinstallation of the Christopher Columbus statue that stood outside of City Hall until the summer of 2020. If adopted, the policy would permit the municipal Department of Development to agree to a contract with Designing Local Ltd., a planning company, to initiate a series of public meetings about whether the statue would return. 

Residents of Genoa, Italy, presented the statue to the city as a gift in 1955. Mayor Andrew Ginther (D) ordered the figure’s removal in June 2020, alleging Columbus’s expeditions to the Americas were destructive and racist. The statue has been in storage since it was uninstalled at a cost of $90,000.