SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - Billy Marchio is South Philly through and through. He’s a teacher in the community and believes that the Christopher Columbus statue in South Philadelphia should stay, however, he thinks the way that people are currently going at it is not the way to do it.“I think the best course of action is to go about it democratically.
Those guys down at Marconi, yes they are my neighbors. I live with them in South Philly, but I feel like their efforts are misguided and I really don’t agree with their methods of how they want to keep the statue up.
We should do it in a more peaceful and democratic way,” says Marchio.So that’s exactly what Marchio is doing. On June 17, Marchio sent a letter to Mayor Jim Kenney, outlining the history.