Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. View Of The City, Duquesne Incline, Monongahela-Allegheny-Ohio Rivers. (Photo by: Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) ((Photo by: Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))PITTSBURGH - An Italian heritage group in western Pennsylvania vowed to appeal a judge's ruling that Pittsburgh officials can remove a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus from a city park.Attorneys for the Italian Sons and Daughters of America have argued that the mayor doesn’t have the power to override an ordinance passed by the city council in 1955 that cleared the installation of the 800-pound statue of the explorer.Common Pleas Judge John McVay Jr.
ruled Friday that because the statue erected in 1958 is in a city-owned park, it represents government speech — citing a 2009 U.S.
Supreme Court ruling on a Utah city rejecting a monument proposed for a city park by a religious group.The Italian Sons and Daughters of America filed the lawsuit in October 2020 after the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to remove the statue.
Then-Mayor Bill Peduto then also recommended its removal.RELATED COVERAGE:McVay had for two years urged the two sides to work toward a solution, including its relocation to a different location.