NEW YORK (AP) - A panel that’s examining New York City statues and monuments seen by some as oppressive will hold its first public hearing next week.
The Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers will meet Nov. 17 in Queens. Additional meetings will be held in each of the city’s other four boroughs later this month.
Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed an 18-member commission in September to help develop guidelines for addressing monuments that some people believe are inconsistent with the city’s values.
The panel was convened amid protests over Confederate monuments around the country.
Some New York activists say the towering statue of Christopher Columbus at the southwest corner of Central Park should go.
But Italian-American groups have rallied around the Columbus statue as a source of ethnic pride.
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