Shelton’s mayor part of Italian American group’s push to restore it
By Brian Lockhart, Staff Writer
BRIDGEPORT — The parks commission chairman is shutting down a private plan to restore the controversial Christopher Columbus statue to Seaside Park six years after its removal.
“You cannot go into our parks and do as you please,” John Hosier emphasized in an interview Thursday.
His statement, along with a formal letter Hosier issued Wednesday expressing that same sentiment, was directed at a coalition of Italian American groups that have restored the bronze monument and were aiming to independently remount it in Seaside this month.
Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, a past grand marshal of Bridgeport’s annual Columbus Day Parade, is a member of Bridgeport-based Circolo Sportivo Club. That organization in 2022 took custody of the 15th century Italian navigator’s likeness after Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, a Democrat, abruptly had it taken down two years prior.
“We had the statue refurbished, did a fundraiser to pay for it,” the Republican Lauretti explained Thursday. “And now we want to put it back up.”
Apprised of Hosier’s position, Lauretti responded, “If he wants us to come back before the board, I’m happy to do that.”
That was Hosier’s clear message in the letter he circulated among municipal officials Wednesday on behalf of the entire Bridgeport Parks Commission, whose members are appointed by Ganim and the City Council.
“No person, organization, or other entity may undertake the installation, removal, relocation, or alteration of any monument, structure, or improvement within a park under the jurisdiction of the parks commission without the prior authorization and approval of the commission,” Hosier wrote. “To date, the … commission has not authorized any individual, organization, or entity to reinstall the Christopher Columbus statue at Seaside Park or at any other park under its jurisdiction.”
He continued that the group “intends to reevaluate this matter at a future date through its established public process.”
On Thursday, Hosier added that the municipal law department supports his stance. That office confirmed Hosier’s letter is legally accurate.
Meanwhile, Bridgeport Councilman Jorge Cruz, whose South End district includes Seaside Park, said it has been his understanding Columbus would never resurface within that or any other such public attraction in the city. And if such a move is being reconsidered, Cruz warned, “We’re going to have protests, press conferences.”
“If you want that statue up, bring it to Shelton,” Cruz said of Lauretti’s involvement. “It’s been out of mind and out of sight for six years. It’s been calm.”
The monument was donated in the mid-1960s by representatives from the local Italian community. Over the ensuing years, Columbus has become more of a complicated and controversial figure — a hero to some, a symbol of colonialism and racism to others.
In the summer of 2020, at the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic, similar divisive statues around the nation were being targeted. Waterbury’s Columbus was beheaded. Ganim that July 6, to the surprise of many, had Bridgeport’s Columbus likeness placed in storage, citing unspecified threats of vandalism.
While perhaps heightened, such threats were not necessarily new. In 2017, Bridgeport’s monument had been splashed with red paint and the message “Kill the Colonizer” written at the base.
As Hosier is arguing now, critics in 2020 similarly claimed Ganim had no legal right to make such a unilateral decision. The municipal law office has maintained the mayor acted under temporary emergency pandemic powers.
In response, the parks commission, of which Hosier was at the time a rank-and-file member, had voted to have the city return the Columbus statue to Seaside. They were initially ignored. Then the city seemed poised to display the statue, only for a dispute to arise over which department should foot the bill. Finally, in late 2022, the Ganim administration let Circolo Sportivo store it.
Lauretti on Thursday said after six years he and a few others decided to take the initiative to put the monument back at Seaside. He does not view it as a complicated situation, arguing “to my knowledge there was no authorization the statue should have been taken down.”
Shelton’s mayor also said the Italian groups that restored the navigator’s bronze likeness also have the resources to independently place Columbus back at Seaside without the city’s help.
“Does he have the resources to protect it?” questioned Hosier. Police costs were another reason the Ganim administration had cited for taking Columbus down in 2020.
Lauretti hopes to “keep a dialogue going.”
“You want people to be supportive of things you’re doing,” Shelton’s mayor said.
Hosier said he is trying to be respectful to both sides but is frustrated with what he views as a “brazen attempt to put that statue up in the park without our approval.”
Mike D’Onofrio is secretary at the Circolo Sportivo Club. He did not want to speak for others involved, but said, “Who wants to go over city policies? … Me, personally, I don’t think the statue should go up against city policies.”
As for where Ganim, who is up for reelection next year, now stands, his chief administrative officer, Thomas Gaudett, said Thursday, “Unless and until there’s some action by the parks commission on the matter, this is out of our hands.”
And if that group at some point votes to put the statue back at Seaside?
“We will cross that bridge when we get there, if we ever get there,” Gaudett said. “Based on (Hosier’s) letter that was issued, that does not seem at all imminent.”