After lengthy and tedious exchanges between City Hall, the NYC Parks’ department and NYPD officials, an unnamed spokesperson at One Police Plaza has confirmed that a “fixed post” of police officers remains stationed in front of the D’Auria-Murphy Triangle (park) in the Belmont section of the Bronx, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to protect a statue of Christopher Columbus.

 

The two-man unit had been observed at Adams Place, between Crescent Avenue and East 183rd Street, within the confines of the 48th precinct, on nearly a dozen occasions since the first week of June 2020, prompting questions among residents as to its precise purpose.

 

In the early hours of July 26, a short distance away from where the two officers were stationed, according to reports over the police band, altercations erupted between a large crowd and some police officers, after two men were shot in the vicinity of Grote Street and Prospect Avenue in the 48th precinct. Police later confirmed that they responded to a 911 call about an assault in progress in the vicinity. However, it was unknown if the two-man unit stood firm at their fixed post as these incidents unfolded or not. One of the two men shot died subsequently.

 

On Sunday, Aug. 2, the 48th precinct reported a second homicide in the area after a male victim was shot in the chest at 11.47 p.m. at 617 East 179th Street. When contacted at a later date by Norwood News for comment regarding the police response to the incident, the NYPD said it was unlikely that the two-man fixed post unit, parked across the street from where the second incident took place, assisted in responding to either homicide, or to a reported looting of the Arthur Avenue Market on Monday, August 10. The market is located one block away from the D’Auria-Murphy Triangle.

 

During another police related incident in the area, on an unknown date, a local Belmont resident saw a ticket being issued to a driver for a traffic violation by a separate police patrol unit across the street from where the two-man fixed post unit was stationed. The resident said the fixed post unit officers did not get involved with the traffic violation incident, and instead remained in their vehicle.

 

On July 28, Crystal Howard, assistant commissioner for communications at the City Parks’ department, was asked about the unit and said, “You should contact DCPI (deputy commissioner of public information for the NYPD) about PD [police department] questions. I can’t answer those.”

 

When then pressed about a previous StreetBlog inquiry sent to the Parks department in relation to a subsequent June 11 StreetBlog article referencing the fixed post unit, Howard said, “We directed StreetBlog to DCPI, so you should call DCPI and ask them.” Norwood News informed Howard that, when the publication contacted DCPI on July 27, Detective Denise Moroney described the two-man unit as “a fixed post, not a detail,” and was directed by Moroney to contact the Parks’ department with any further questions.

 

In response, Howard said, “Okay, well I can tell you right now that Parks did not ask for a fixed post at the Columbus statue. I cannot tell you why they are stationed there, because Parks did not request their presence.”

 

Formal confirmation regarding the fixed post eventually came on Wednesday, July 29 when an unnamed DCPI official was asked by Norwood News if the unit was indeed stationed in Belmont to protect the Columbus statue, and if so, since when. The official responded, writing simply, “Yes, since June.”

 

The D’Auria-Murphy Triangle park was closed on Sunday, July 26 and Monday, July 27, its padlocked fences barring anyone from using the park or accessing the statue, as the uniformed officers remained parked out in front.

 

On July 29, the NYPD directed the additional inquiries from Norwood News about the park’s closure to the Parks department. Dan Kastanis, Parks’ department press officer, responded saying, “Parks did not close this site, and we were not made aware of any closures.”

In addition to the Columbus statue in Belmont, the June 8 StreetBlog story by Gersh Kuntzman and Adam Light listed other Columbus statues in the City which were also assigned 24-hour police protection. These were in Astoria, Queens and at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn.

 

Both StreetBlog and The New York Post, the latter in a June 11 article, also wrote that there was a fixed unit guarding the 13-foot Columbus statue positioned atop a 76-foot pedestal in Columbus Circle, in Manhattan. When StreetBlog had contacted City Hall about these fixed post units for their story, to ask when they were first assigned, what they cost the NYPD in overtime, and whether a threat of vandalism of the statues was credible, the publication was directed to contact the NYPD. A StreetBlog source said that the police declined to answer their questions at that time.

 

A StreetBlog reader, commenting on the publication’s story about the statues, said a similar style fixed post was also guarding a statue of George Washington on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge.

 

The New York Post article later reported that the fixed post assigned to the Columbus Circle statue in Manhattan began on July 9, after several incidents involving the toppling of statues were reported in various locations across the country, including a Columbus statue that was pulled from its pedestal outside of the state capital building in St. Paul, MN., on June 10, a statue of Columbus in Maryland that was knocked off its pedestal and rolled into Baltimore Harbor on July 4, and a similar incident which took place in Richmond, VA., on July 7.

 

According to The New York Post article, the Columbus Circle statue was surrounded by police barricades. It quoted one police source as saying, “The gates are going to stay up indefinitely until the powers that be decide that things have calmed down sufficiently for us to remove them.”

 

Referring to the Columbus statue in Belmont, a local resident who declined to be identified, said, “There’s been police activity in front of it since the riots. They’re sitting there guarding the statue of Christopher Columbus. It’s wasting tax dollars to watch this statue.” The resident continued, “I don’t see how it’s a necessity or a priority, but to each his own. God bless the mayor.”

 

With the debate raging on the future of Confederate statues, as well as that of the Founding Fathers, the Belmont resident was asked if he believed statues of Columbus should be put in a museum. He responded, “Given the history of Columbus, not the one they want you to believe in this country, I personally don’t find anything wrong with the statue, but some people dislike it.”

Meanwhile, referring to the widely taught historical account of Columbus discovering America, Will, a Belmont resident who is African American, said, “How can you discover something that was already here? I believe the statue should be here, but I think the full history of the real Columbus should be told.” He also said the history of the extermination of entire cultures of the American Indian community, and the creation of the slave trade should be taught as well.

 

Tony Jag, a resident of nearby Tremont, said of the statue, “I don’t think we should deny history. Whether we like it or not, it’s our history, it’s in our blood.”

 

On the Parks’ department website, a number of statues of Christopher Columbus are listed, and can be found around the City, including at The Mall in Central Park, in Columbus Park in Downtown Brooklyn, and at Columbus Square, in Queens.

 

According to Parks’, the D’Auria-Murphy Triangle park was created in 1918, and was to be named after Mayor John P. Mitchel, but he failed to attend the dedication. At the last minute, local officials named the park after two Belmont men, John D’Auria and Henry J. Murphy, who were both killed in action in World War l.

 

Bronx-based sculptor Attilio Piccirilli created the marble bust of Columbus in 1925, and it was originally placed in the schoolyard of P.S. 45 on Bathgate Avenue. The bust was moved, and placed on the pedestal at its current location after the park was renovated in 1992.

 

Following the now-infamous, Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017, in which several people were injured, and one young woman was killed when she was deliberately run over, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed a commission to examine the issue of hate symbols in New York City. The commission determined that the statues of Columbus could stay, and suggested that other statues be created in honor of indigenous people, where Columbus’ actions could be placed in context. Both de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have each publicly supported the commission’s findings.

 

On the other hand, after at least two requests dating back to 2017, the City of New York agreed in July to remove the statue of Theodore Roosevelt from the front steps of the American Museum of Natural History. It depicts Roosevelt on horseback with a Native American Indian man and an African American man on either side of the horse. As reported by The NY Daily News, the elevation of Roosevelt on horseback is seen as demeaning. It had been rumored there were fears the statue might be vandalized. However, it’s still there.

 

In September 2019, Norwood News reported on an event at Bronx Community College which sought to launch a discussion around who decides what defines “American Greatness”, and which historical figures get to be inducted into the college’s prestigious Hall of Fame colonnade.

 

Cynthia Tobar is Assistant Professor and Head of Archives at the college and coordinated last year’s event. While she confirmed there is no Christopher Columbus statue in the college’s Hall of Fame, Norwood News asked Tobar what the outcome of last year’s event was. “The outcome of last year’s Diversity in Public Art event was that of community engagement, and we had several hundred participants attend,” she said. “As of now, there is still no mechanism in place to determine new nominees to the Hall.”

 

Tobar added, “Regarding current discussions on the legacy of contentious historical figures, in my humble opinion, I believe that any discussion on what needs to be added, removed or contextualized needs to directly involve the voices of community members who would be directly impacted by the physical presence of such monuments.”

 

 

*Síle Moloney provided additional reporting to this story.