Dear Friends and Colleagues of the Columbus Heritage Coalition,

With your encouragement and support, the Columbus Heritage Coalition has achieved what few believed was possible when we founded this organization just three years ago. Before I once again ask for your support, please permit me to review all that has been achieved.

We have safeguarded our national shrine to Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle by fighting to preserve the memorial and securing placement in the National Register of Historic Places.

We stopped an ill-advised campaign to ban a historic 1867 Columbus statue in Brooklyn, the city’s first public art commission created by Emma Stebbins, a pioneering LGBT icon.

We advocated for the statue of Mother Cabrini, the minister to migrants who founded nearly 70 orphanages, schools, and hospitals a century ago.

Time and again, we spoke out against the attacks on statues of Columbus, and others such as Frederick Douglass and Cervantes, calling upon the a tackers to “Drop the hate. Seek the truth.”

As the urgently important New York City mayoral primaries approached, we created a digital survey and polled the candidates for their views on protecting Columbus statues and preserving Columbus Day.


We identified archival video from October 2020 of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams publicly supporting the preservation of the Columbus Memorial in Columbus Circle, the first candidate to do so. Our survey and research led us to identify Eric Adams as the best choice to unite and lead our great city in the post-pandemic period. We reached out to the candidate through our contacts and obtained confirmation of his support.

With these assurances in hand, the Columbus Heritage Coalition proudly endorsed and ranked Eric Adams as the first and best choice for mayor. We promoted our endorsement throughout our community and via our digital networks while keeping the campaign advised of our ongoing efforts.

As we now know, in a squeaker, Eric Adams is the Democratic candidate for mayor. Yes, Democrats dominate in New York City. But we remain focused on support as we approach the November general election, perhaps the most consequential and significant for our city in our lifetime.

In early September, the Columbus Heritage Coalition, in cooperation with the Italian American PAC, will host a reception and fundraiser at the Columbus Citizens Foundation townhouse in Manhattan in honor of Eric Adams and to thank him for his support. Please look for an email update in the coming days for more details on how you may participate.

Our group recognizes and appreciates Eric Adam’s longstanding support of the Italian American community, his lifelong commitment to fighting discrimination and prejudice, and his distinguished record of public service, rising to NYPD police captain, New York State Senator, and Brooklyn Borough President.

As we wrote in our endorsement message to members and supporters in June, “Eric Adams has proven he can unite and lead us to an even better and
greater New York.”


With all best wishes,

Angelo Vivolo
President
Columbus Heritage Coalition