BALTIMORE — The circular plaza where a Christopher Columbus statue overlooked the Inner Harbor is still empty - more than four years after the statue was toppled into the water during the nationwide protests of 2020.
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In recent weeks there, have been a few new updates on the plaza's future.
The destroyed Columbus statue itself was retrieved from the Harbor, and a local sculptor built a new statue in 2022.
The flagpoles that hold a ring of Italian flags on what's known as "Columbus Piazza" were just replaced, said Little Italy Neighborhood Association two weeks ago.
The group posted on Facebook:
A huge GRAZIE to Shauntee Daniels of Baltimore National Heritage Area, the local non-profit organization that sponsored the repairs and additions of a rope pulley and ball topper to all flag poles located on the President Street median strip. Now the six flag poles have a rope pulley system which allows damaged flags to be changed individually as needed. In the past, changing flags required us to hire a bucket truck operator. A shout out to Gia Blatterman of Cafe Gia Ristorante who referred Shauntee Daniels to LINA. And I'd like to recognize Tricia China of FW Haxel Flag, Banner, Flagpole and Sign Co. who helped bring the project to fruition. Little Italy holds a special place in Tricia's family’s heart. Her husband’s grandparents, Primo and Elisa China, were both Italian immigrants who lived in Baltimore's Little Italy. They were both very active in many Italian associations and initiatives in Baltimore. Primo has since passed, but Tricia was thrilled to let Elisa know FW Haxel Flags and LINA are working together to beautify Little Italy neighborhood.
Daniels said she was just driving by "and saw how bad their flags and flagpoles were tattered."
She thought that was "unacceptable" and arranged to have the flags removed.
Daniels said it's about supporting the Italian-American community, not Christopher Columbus.
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"The [nonprofit Baltimore National Heritage Area] celebrates everyone's heritage," she said. "Little Italy is one of the oldest cultural and traditional neighborhoods, so I think at least for that, they should have nice representation... We all love Baltimore, so we all need to celebrate and lift everyone up."
LINA's monthly meeting also featured a discussion about plans for a new statue.
It will still be years before anything would actually be built, but two of the leading ideas are to rename the area "Little Italy Piazza" or "Piccola Italia Piazza," and to build a statue of an anonymous Italian immigrant family, said community leaders Lisa Regnante and John Pica.
(Another option is a statue of Mother Cabrini, a prominent Italian-American nun who helped immigrants around the turn of the 20th century.)
Regnante said:
We're all in to do something that will make Little Italy a place to visit, something that everybody - especially with the statue, if we end up going with an anonymous immigrant family, it would be a welcoming statue that everybody can see themselves in.
She noted it's not LINA making the decision, and a number of organizations and community stakeholders are involved.
The Little Italy community met a couple of years ago with City Councilman Zeke Cohen and members of the Native American/indigenous community about the statue's future, and agreed to consider multiple options.
Baltimore City, which originally owned the statue, handed off the remaining pedestal (and ownership of any future statue) to community leaders.
A new statue could cost at least $100,000, since the suggested material is marble - and, the main goal is to make sure all voices get heard, Regnante said.
"That's very important to us," Regnante said.
