Joe Motil is a lifelong Columbus resident and longtime supporter of the Columbus music and arts scene. He ran for Columbus mayor in 2023.
Columbus’s grant from the Mellon Foundation was one of “nine grants totaling $25 million to local governments to advance publicly oriented initiatives aimed at transforming commemorative spaces and landscapes,” according to the foundation’s website.
The city did not have to allocate our $2 million grant to a consulting firm while attempting to ease the public’s perceptions on what to do with the Christopher Columbus statue.
The Mellon Foundation’s guidelines also allowed for “funding new monuments (broadly defined), memorials, and historic storytelling spaces” and other alternative ways.
But instead, Columbus’ mayor and city council once again lack the courage to resolve controversy.
They selected a favored consulting firm with a $2 million unbid contract ($250,000 is allocated for personnel) and assembled a committee of hand-picked members, some of whom have close ties to city hall. Missing from the committee are artists, grassroots organizers, and neighborhood community leaders.
Columbus’ Italian community should have had a say
During my 2023 mayoral campaign, I was asked by an Italian community leader how I would address the Christopher Columbus statue controversy.
I responded in part that I would request that a committee from the Italian community be formed and that they propose several sites to relocate the statue.
The property would be purchased through fundraising efforts by the Italian committee and a site and design would be mutually agreed upon by their committee and city officials.
The Mellon grant would pay for transporting the statue and the concrete foundation for the statue to be erected upon. Any additional infrastructure improvements, security, and upkeep would come from private dollars and grants.
A conservative estimate would leave $1.5 million from the $2 million grant to spend on new public art.
Points of pride, community, and history should be celebrated
The city’s promise to allocate $1.5 million towards new installation of public art, solely on the campus of city hall, makes no sense.
The majority of Columbus residents rarely visit city hall let alone even know where it is. The $1.5 million plus the $1.5 million leftover Mellon Foundation grant funds for new art installations should represent points of pride, community, and history placed throughout various neighborhoods of the city.
Perhaps at libraries, in partnerships with Columbus City Schools, and other public properties.
Priority would be given to artists who live in proximity to these locations and they would participate in the decisions of the type of art installation and its content.
Representatives from GCAC, CCAD, and the Columbus Arts Commission would work together with public entities to decide on locations, art medium, and artist selections.
Joe Motil is a lifelong Columbus resident and longtime supporter of the Columbus music and arts scene. He ran for Columbus mayor in 2023.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: City failed Italian residents in Christopher Columbus statue home talks | Opinion
Reporting by Joe Motil / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
