WE NEED YOU TONIGHT!!!

 

Please join us, especially if you live in the city of New Britain! We are almost at the finishing line. We got our veto, now we need to hold the line! Email templates below for your convenience! Contact me with questions or if you want to help more!

On Wednesday, January 13th the New Britain common council will one last time vote on the future of the Columbus statue. Mayor Stewart courageously vetoed the resolution, sending it back to the common council. But we need your help because the common council is voting on whether to override her veto. We need your support to ensure we solidify our support and save our statue!

The Common Council public participation will start a 6:45 PM on Wednesday, January 13th. The public can call at 1-609-663-5783. Wait to be unmuted to speak. There is a 3-minute time limit for public comment. Please email savecolumbusnb@yahoo.com for additional information.

Please email the following two swing aldermen - they voted to remove the statue, but they are both on the mayor's ticket and can be persuaded to come on our side. Tell them to sustain the mayor's veto and support the statue - if they join us we will win! 

Swing aldermen: (on the mayor's ticket, they can be persuaded to join us):

Michael Thompson

39 Pendleton Road 06053

860-541-0213

aldermanthompson@newbritainct.gov

mike.thompson@newbritainct.gov

Kristian Rosado

27 Kulper Road 06051

(860) 893-6172

kristian.rosado@newbritainct.gov 

Swing alderman (though not on the mayor's ticket):

Howard Dyson

191 Kenwood Drive 06052

860-305-3714

howard.dyson@newbritainct.gov

 - Call the Common Council at 860-826-2392 and email the Chair at jessica.gerratana@newbritainct.gov and commoncouncil@newbritainct.gov. Put pressure on the other aldermen!

Don't forget to THANK the mayor for her veto, as well as the other aldermen who also courageously voted to keep the statue. They need our support!

Mayor (to thank for support):  

Mayor Erin Stewart

860-826-3300

erin.stewart@newbritainct.gov

Voted on our side to keep the statue:

Daniel Salerno

80 Jones Driver 06053

(860) 977-5311

daniel.salerno@newbritainct.gov

Robert Smedley

37 Highland Terrace 06053

(860) 818-3628

robert.smedley@newbritainct.gov

Wilfredo Pabon

205 Birchwood Drive 06052

(860) 229-2625

wilfredo.pabon@newbritainct.gov

Kris Rutkowski

187 Village Green Drive 06053

860-518-1002

kris.rutkowski@newbritainct.gov

Email templates (for your convenience, people can just copy and paste):

First email template (to those who voted on our side):

  Dear Alderman [Smedley/Salerno/Pabon/Rutkowski],

The recent debate over the Christopher Columbus statue in New Britain has been the subject of great controversy. Those who desire to remove the statue have often been aggressive, often accusing those who wish to keep the statue as being racist or insensitive to racial discrimination in our country. Indeed, in the last common council debate, a woman physically threatened those who opposed the removal of the Columbus statue. I understand the significant pressure you faced to support the resolution to remove it; it would have been very easy to simply succumb and vote to remove the statue. Instead, you weighed both sides and courageously voted to keep the statue of Christopher Columbus in McCabe Park. I want to thank you for choosing to preserve the statue. Politicians often receive criticism and complaints for nearly everything they do. Rarely do they receive much-deserved credit and appreciation when they take courageous decisions. I want to express my gratitude.

On January 13th, the common council is expected to once again take up the resolution on the Columbus statue in the wake of Mayor Erin Stewart's veto. Mayor Stewart wisely criticized the potential costs and repercussions of removing the statue, denouncing the cancel culture that threatens to engulf our city and increase tensions between our vibrant communities. The Columbus statue in McCabe Park was erected both as a monument to the pioneering spirit of our country as well as to help integrate a discriminated, rejected community - Italian-Americans - into the American whole. Never was it meant to be discriminatory to any other group. I urge you, alderman, to once again be courageous at the next common council meeting and vote to sustain the mayor's veto and save the Columbus statue at McCabe Park. We need your support to ensure that this statue remains for our generation and for future generations of Italian-Americans. 

Thank you for your support, and be assured that I am ready to assist you in any way.

Sincerely yours,

Second email template for the two swing aldermen:

  Dear Alderman [Thompson or Rosado],

I would like to thank you for your service to the city of New Britain. To work in public office often means negative scrutiny, constant criticism, and typically, little credit. People often don't understand the great responsibility that public officials assume in their roles.

Recently, the city of New Britain has been debating the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue in McCabe Park. The issue has been contentious and has increased divisions among communities in our vibrant city. I know you voted for removal of the statue. I would just like to know your reasons for making that decision, and I would like to know how we can help change your mind. The Columbus statue was erected both as a monument to the pioneering spirit of our country as well as to help integrate a discriminated, rejected community - Italian-Americans - into the American whole. Never was it meant to be discriminatory to any other group. The Italian-American community certainly bears no ill will towards any other cultural or ethnic group, indeed we want them to be celebrated for their own distinct contributions. 

The mayor, as you know, recently decided to veto removing the statue, citing how cancel culture has been aggressively targeting our national symbols, and also mentioning how the city does not have the funds to remove and replace this statue. Since you were elected on her ticket and have been a supporter of hers, I urge you to support her move and sustain her veto when the resolution comes back at the next city council meeting. Removing this statue will not promote or bring about racial justice, it will only serve to alienate Italian-Americans. The costs will be exorbitant - removing and replacing it could cost as much as $140,000 (the cost of the statue in today's dollars). This is not in the best interest of our city.

I would love to discuss this further with you. Please feel free to reach out. I hope we can count on you to sustain the mayor's veto and save the Columbus statue in New Britain.

Sincerely yours,

To send to the Mayor

Dear Mayor Stewart,

The Columbus statue in McCabe Park has been the subject of great controversy. Many Italian-Americans and other supporters of Columbus have asked you to veto its removal. I also recognize that you have been under significant pressure to simply allow the passage of the resolution. Given how contentious the issue was, and how aggressive the supporters of removal were, it would have been easy to avoid additional controversy and simply let it pass.

However, you did in fact take the step to veto the resolution. It was a courageous decision, and you risked being targeted and maligned as a "racist." I wanted to say that I truly thank you for taking this step to veto, despite the opposition you surely face. I understand that as the mayor, you will often be the "face" of a contentious issue, and so intervening is not an easy task.

In the next week or so, there will be additional pressure to ensure that the veto is overridden by the common council. I urge you to encourage your supporters on the council, particularly on your ticket, to sustain your veto and stop the tide of cancel culture in our city. New Britain does not need further tensions in its vibrant community, and Italian-Americans simply want their symbols to be left alone and to celebrate their culture in peace. The city, additionally, does not need to start incurring additional costs for the removal, storage, and replacement of the statue. Replacement, if equal to the current statue, could cost upwards of $140,000 (the modern cost of the statue), not to mention the costs of removal itself and the task of finding a place to store it and of finding a suitable "alternative" - a whole new controversy.

While it is important to address politicians to ask their support for an issue, I also think it is important to show gratitude and appreciation when they make difficult decisions. Please be assured of my continued support for you, along with a battalion of other concerned Italian-Americans. If you need additional support, please don't hesitate to reach out.

With great gratitude,