Thomas Breen photos
Columbus statute standoff in Wooster Square earlier Wednesday. Below: Elicker at City Hall presser.
Mayor Justin Elicker spent Wednesday in his office at City Hall as defenders and critics of Wooster Square’s now-removed Christopher Columbus statue engaged in a tense seven-hour standoff less than a mile away.
The mayor defended that decision in an afternoon press conference as avoiding playing a “not productive” role. He also responded to the question of why the city waited a week to take down the statue in the first place, giving mostly out-of-town opponents of the move time to organize opposition.
Elicker held that press conference at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday on the second floor of City Hall.
Flanked by Police Chief Otoniel Reyes and Varick AME Church Pastor Kelcy Steele, both of whom spent most of the morning and afternoon in the thick of the Wooster Square protest, the mayor reported that he had spent the first half of the tumultuous day at home, and then in his office.
“I think it’s very clear that I will go anywhere in the city if it’s productive, and I have a strong record of doing that,” he said. “I felt pretty strongly that it would not be productive for me to be there, that it would have potentially escalated the situation. So I made a choice not to go.”
The protest itself started out just before 6 a.m., as roughly 65 mostly older, Italian Americans from East Haven rallied outside of the Columbus statue in an effort to defend the memorial — and what they described as a symbol of their cultural heritage — from being removed by the city.
The day’s events turned violent after two local critics of the statue arrived to voice their support for the statue’s removal.
One of the pro-Columbus protesters responded by slugging one of the peaceful counter-protesters in the back of the head. Other white pro-Columbus protesters yelled racist epithets at the two young men of color, such as, “Go steal another TV!”
Elicker with Pastor Steele and Chief Reyes.
When asked to elaborate on how his presence would not have been “productive” at the tense scene, the mayor said, “There were a good number of people, a large group from outside the city, that were trying to obstruct the statue from coming down. My sense is that me showing up would have increased some of the frustration and anger when we were interested in deescalating the situation and focusing on removing the statue.”
Elicker said that the city did not intentionally wait a full week to act after the Parks Commission first gave the city the go-ahead to remove the Wooster Square statue.
“It was a logistical decision more than anything,” he said. “We would have removed the statue more quickly, but it was difficult to get a crane scheduled to remove the statue.”
Art conservator Francis Miller rigs up the statue for removal. Below: hundreds watch, wait, and cheer.
As for why it took so long for a crane company to arrive Wednesday morning, with a truck from the Bethel-based Healy Crane Service not showing up until roughly four hours after the first pro-statue protesters arrived on the scene, Elicker said, “I was frustrated about that as well.”
He said that people who work in government, and in construction, know well that “things don’t always arrive on time. The crane equipment did not arrive on time.”
After the press conference, he told the Independent that the first crane company that the city had initially lined up to remove the statue at 7 a.m. Wednesday called out of the job last minute. He said city officials spent the rest of the morning scrambling to find another available crane, which led to the delay.
In general, Elicker said, he thinks the city should be proud of the process and implementation of the removal of the statue.
He praised city police for helping deescalate a tense scene without making any arrests. (One East Haven resident was handcuffed, detained, and later released for allegedly shoving a pro-removal protester.)
And the mayor commended protesters for showing up to express their opinion on the matter.
“Overall, when you take a step back, I think we can be proud that we did this in a way that was generally collaborative and successful,” he said.
While Elicker stayed away, Chief Reyes and Rev. Steele (pictured) were on the scene Wednesday working to deescalate over a tense morning and early afternoon. Steele took the megaphone several times over the course of the pro-removal protest to urge those who turned out to recognize the significance of the city’s decision to take down a memorial that represented pain and suffering for so many.
During the afternoon presser, Steele praised the chief and the mayor for their “excellent leadership” in facilitating a largely peaceful removal of the statue. “History is something that we can never change, but we can correct our paths forward. Today, by the statue coming down, it symbolized for a lot of people that New Haven and this community are really taking racism seriously.”
On May 31, Elicker similarly made a decision to stay away from a protest, this one at the police station, where a crowd demanded to speak with him about criminal justice concerns. Tensions grew for hours, and police ended up using pepper spray against protesters seeking to enter the building. Elicker said he at first thought it would be unproductive to confront the protesters. He did end up coming outside several hours later. (Read about that here.)
The Mayor showed good judgment.
Now let's dedicate a memorial to the immigrants - women included.