Discussion continued last week on the landmark status of three locations in White Plains, including a Christopher Columbus statue that has recently sparked debate. During a public hearing held by the Historic Preservation Committee last Wednesday, residents voiced that the Columbus statue should receive landmark status. The statue is located in Tibbits Park on North Broadway at Lake Street.

“We, as Italian-Americans, honor Columbus. We see him as a person who had a vision, a person of character, a person who persevered,” said Mario Cermele, president of the Antonio Meucci Lodge.  “Political parties are trying to make Columbus into their racism, this was a man of 1942. To us he’s an Italian-American and we’re very proud of who he was, what he meant to us and the great land he discovered.”