Now that Christopher Columbus has been evicted from the Coit Tower plaza, there are plenty of suggestions for replacing him, and they include a statue of another historic Italian American, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Everything from a Benny Bufano statue of St. Francis of Assisi to Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi to moving the firefighter statue in Washington Square — the list goes on and on,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district played host to the Columbus statue until the city removed it early Thursday morning.
“One judge just texted me saying he would pay for a statue of Nancy Pelosi,” Peskin said. “A very prominent Italian American actually thanked the city for saving the Columbus statue and offered to buy it.”
Once a symbol of Italian American pride, Columbus has become a symbol of oppression for many in recent years.
City workers removed the 4,000-pound statue after it was repeatedly vandalized and after a flyer began circulating on social media calling for a march to Coit Tower to topple the statue and and chuck it into the bay.
Peskin said he understood the political and safety reasons that prompted the statue’s removal, but but said there are no plans to remove the name of the man who claimed to discover the new world from Columbus Avenue, which also cuts through his district.
“There is a real difference between a physical symbol and a place name,” Peskin said. “If we go down that road we’d be renaming half of the streets in the city.”
Batter up: It took a bit of debate, but the Oakland City Council has instructed staff to begin negotiations to sell the city’s half of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum site to the Oakland A’s.
The decision came Thursday in a closed session and marks a stark change from October when city leaders filed suit in an attempt to block Alameda County from selling its half of the 155-acre East Oakland site to the team.
The suit was later withdrawn at the urging of Major League Baseball.
Council members are barred from discussing what goes on in closed session, but sources close to the talks said the city’s deal would mirror the county deal and net about $85 million spread out over a yet-to-be determined number of years.
The A’s are looking to build a new waterfront ballpark at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal but also want the ability to develop the Coliseum site. Both deals are predicated on the team building a new ballpark in Oakland.
Initially some council members wanted the Coliseum site to be used for affordable housing, others wanted to put the site out for bid and still others wanted to lease rather than sell the city’s portion to the team.
“For me it is about looking at how things have changed when it comes to money,” Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo said before the meeting.
“After the coronavirus shutdown, we are looking at a very, very serious budget deficit, and they are saying it could cost us $6 million just to maintain the site,” Gallo said. “We don’t have that kind of money. This way we can get some badly needed help.”
Sources said the vote was nearly unanimous. Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas abstained.
Healthy policing: Bas is calling for $25 million in police spending to be redirected to mental health, parks and recreation, homelessness prevention, youth programs and other social services.
But when businesses in her district were threatened by looters during the recent demonstrations against police brutality, Bass wanted the cops out in force.
“This morning residents and business owners told us that they saw no officers at all last night and that there were groups of people who apparently were waiting around with plans and tools targeting pharmacies, jewelry and cell phone stores,” Bas said in an email to acting Police Chief Susan Manheimer on May 31, the morning after looting in downtown Oakland.
Bas repeated her call for more officers two days later in another email to Manheimer, saying “I am making an urgent request on behalf of elderly residents in Chinatown to maintain OPD’s presence around the pharmacies in Chinatown ”
Manheimer responded, telling Bas, “as we prepared for the potential of more demonstrations on Saturday, we immediately doubled our resources, increased our visibility and presence in and around Chinatown.”
So it struck some as an interesting twist that in the wake of the protests, the progressive Bas called for defunding the police.
Bas said both are true.
“OPD sworn officers should focus on violent and serious crime. Reductions in the OPD budget will allow for alternative responses to nonviolent 911 calls by dispatching medical professionals or mediators,” she said in an email.
As for her call for more cops when things got rough?
“During the recent looting of pharmacies, it was a health and safety priority,” Bas said.
Car 54, where are you? Word is one of the San Francisco police brass who was involved in managing crowd control during the recent George Floyd demonstrations took his police car home, only to have it stolen — along with his riot gear.
Police spokesman Adam Lobsinger confirmed that on Wednesday an off-duty officer reported that his unmarked vehicle had been stolen in the Marina District.
According to the police burglary bulletin, the gray 2017 Ford Fusion was equipped with a police radio, and an SFPD jacket, a 26-inch baton and a riot helmet were inside the vehicle at the time of the theft. There were no firearms in the car, Lobsinger said.
The next evening the hot police car was found on the 2800 block of Vallejo Street in Cow Hollow.
“No items appeared to be missing from the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to CSI (crime scene investigation) for processing,” Lobsinger said. “We are not releasing the name of the officer for officer safety purposes.”
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGO-TV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier
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Now taking nominations to replace Columbus statue outside Coit Tower - San Francisco Chronicle
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