MANHATTAN (WPIX) — The decadeslong push to remove the Thomas Jefferson statue from the New York City Council chambers will come down to a vote taking place later Monday.
New York City’s Public Design Commission will determine the fate of the Jefferson statue that has stood inside City Hall inside 1833.
The City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian caucus has long objected to its presence because Jefferson wasn’t just the third U.S. president or a founding father, he was also a slave owner.
Assembly member Charles Barron and his wife, City Council member Inez Barron, have been leading the fight to remove the statue. They want City Hall to memorialize people who better reflect New York’s history and diversity.
Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams supports the removal and says he hopes the Public Design Commission will consider “uplifting underrepresented faces and communities” at City Hall and elsewhere.
Republican Challenger Curtis Sliwa wants the Jefferson statue to stay, arguing its removal would be a rewrite of history.
Monday’s meeting would be a vote on a “long-term loan” of the statue to the New York Historical Society on the Upper West Side.
City Council sources told PIX11 News the vote is expected to pass.