They want Columbus out of America’s Downtown! A local civic group’s meeting over the fate of a Christopher Columbus statue in Downtown Brooklyn turned into a ruckus back-and-forth, with attendees on both sides slinging charges of racism and discrimination — before the panel ultimately decided to reaffirm their demands to remove the explorer’s effigy. 

Members of local Community Board 2’s Parks and Youth committees upheld a Dec. 7 vote by the civic group to send a non-binding letter to the Parks Department to take down the marble likeness of the 15th-century Italian sailor, following a second joint hearing on Feb. 4 that included input from Italian-American organizations in favor of keeping the monument.