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Over a month after Joe Ganim abruptly had the statue of Christopher Columbus removed from Seaside Park and stored away, the city’s parks board in a similarly sudden move voted he put it back on its pedestal. “They have 45 days to do that,” Banjed Labrador, the board’s president, said in an interview following Tuesday night’s regularly scheduled tel...

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The City Council will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday to vote to have Mayor Joe Ganim re-install the Christopher Columbus statue he had removed July 6 from Seaside Park. Fourteen council members had called on Ganim to, per the City Charter, schedule the special meeting for last week, but he had taken no action, saying the matter should be...

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The city’s parks board was not allowed to weigh in on the mayor’s removal of the Christopher Columbus statue from Seaside Park, but that group is now being asked to decide the monument’s future. Board Chairman Banjed Labrador said Wednesday he and his peers may schedule a special meeting as early as next week to discuss whether the likeness of the...

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Members of Bridgeport's Italian-American community called on the city Sunday to return the Christopher Columbus statue that was recently removed from Seaside Park. A majority of city council members have signed a resolution making that request. "We've put forth a resolution demanding that the mayor put the statue back up," said Mike DeFilippo. The...

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This week began with the city’s abrupt decision to remove the Christopher Columbus statue from Seaside Park and ended with an uncertain outlook for the future of the likeness of the controversial explorer. “It needs to come back out. It doesn’t belong to the city. It belongs to all residents of Bridgeport,” City Council President Aidee Nieves ackno...

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Whether trying to preserve the Christopher Columbus statue in Seaside Park or pressure City Hall to remove it, people on both sides of the debate were blindsided Monday when Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration abruptly put the monument in storage. Shoshana Mahon, who just graduated from Fairchild Wheeler High School, helped organize a July 4 protest c...

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City officials removed the Christopher Columbus statue at Seaside Park and placed it in storage out of an abundance of caution for the preservation of the historic artifact, the need to respond to modern-day sensitivities, as well as public safety at large. Community leaders of all cultures and ethnicities are discussing ways to continue to honor...

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Councilman Jorge Cruz watched last week as New Haven and Hartford moved ahead with taking down statues of Christopher Columbus and wondered, why not here? “He don’t deserve to be honored with a statue at Seaside Park,” Cruz said of the monument to the Genoese explorer that has stood in his South End district since the mid-1960s. “I’ve had animosity...

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Italian Americans may not set off Guinness-fueled celebrations every St. Paddy's Day like Irish Americans, or serve as an excuse for margarita madness on Cinco de Mayo like Mexican Americans. But with their heaping plates of spaghetti and meatballs, mobster flicks, and the unfortunate reality TV show "Jersey Shore," Italian Americans are a critical...

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The Columbus Day Parade will return to the city’s streets for its 111th year after the City Council agreed to resume paying the police overtime costs.Columbus Parade organizers moved 2018’s celebration to Shelton over a dispute about the public safety bill. “Losing that last year was not one of our best moments,” Council President Aidee Nieves said...

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