Christopher Columbus Statue &
Discovery Park Task Force
Final Proposal to Chula Vista City Council, November 1st, 2022 Historical Background
● Special Meeting of the Chula Vista City Council on May 25, 2021, the City Council voted to permanently remove the Christopher Columbus Statue at Discovery Park
● Designated October 12 as Indigenous Peoples Day in the City of Chula Vista
● September 28, 2021, appointed members to serve on the Christopher Columbus Statue and Discovery Park Task Force
Task Force Members
Our Charge
● Solicit and consider proposals for disposition of the Columbus Statue ● Adopt a Framework for Monument Installation and Naming and Renaming City Assets
● Adopt recommended names for the renaming of Discovery Park ● Adopt proposed language for a marker that should be placed at the former site of the Columbus Statue at Discovery Park.
Disposition
Learn about the Columbus Statue artist
- Mario Zamora (1920-2017) a sculptor from Honduras, active in Mexico
- Multiple attempts to communicate with his daughter (via email and phone calls) who had inquired about the status of the statue, in order to get an idea about the family’s wishes.
Disposition Process: Request For Interest
- Approved the questions and process
- Advertised for 60 days
- C.V. Communications Department put out Press Release
- Media, marketing, promotional strategies on behalf of city staff - Articles written (NBC, Fox, ABC)
- Outreached to major museums and associations, nationwide and local
Review of Proposals
- One statement of interest submitted: Sons & Daughters of Italy - Public comment from Vincent Ferrer at McMillan Companies, expressing interest, however no formal submittal
- Task Force sent request to Sons & Daughters of Italy for more information
Recommendation of Disposition
- Decision: Reject the proposal from Sons & Daughters of Italy based on their inability to fulfill the established criteria for the acquisition of the statue
- Lack of permanent location
- No plan for contextualization of the statue
- Maintain statue in storage per the proposed framework Proposed Framework for Monument
Installation & Naming/Renaming of
City Assets
Guiding Principles/Values/Tenets
● Process Matters as Much as Outcome
● Truth Telling and Accountability
● Elimination of Prejudice and Discrimination
● Welcoming City
● Public Memory and Memorialization is POWER
Guidelines
● Acknowledgment that any monument installation is a form of “government speech”
● In order of preference…
○ Geographic location
○ Other Considerations (e.g. prominent flora, cultural/historical precedent)
○ Extraordinary Circumstances (person, group, organization) Process & Procedures
● Monument Review Process
● Monument Review Criteria
● Monument Removal Process
● Monument Disposition Process*
● Naming/Renaming Nomination Process
● Naming and Renaming Review Process
● Name Change
Proposal for Renaming of
Discovery Park
To be submitted through the renaming process
1. Kuuskilsh Park
a. A Kumeyaay honoring of the geographic location and topography of the area
2. Mat Tipay Park
a. “The People’s Land”, honoring the original peoples and acknowledging their presence
3. Kanap Uuyaw Park
a. “Telling Knowledge”, correcting falsehoods of the past
4. Kumeyaay Park of Chula Vista
a. To honor the first people
Proposal for Marker Language
This park lies on the land of the Kumeyaay, the original caretakers of the territories extending from present-day Ensenada to Oceanside and from the Pacific Ocean to the Colorado River.
[Park Name] honors the ______. [Elaborate on new name]
On this site, previously named Discovery Park upon its founding in 1990 as part of the commemoration of the quincentennial of the so-called “discovery of the new land”—stood a statue of Christopher Columbus.
After years of protests by local Kumeyaay, other Indigenous peoples, supporters, and city residents, in 2021 the Chula Vista City Council voted to remove the statue and rename the park.
We offer this in the spirit of not “erasing history” but rather as a necessary and reciprocal healing of the harms and injustice of colonial erasure and the distortion of history.
This park lies on the land of the Kumeyaay, the original caretakers of the territories extending from present-day Ensenada to Oceanside and from the Pacific Ocean to the Colorado River.
[Park Name] honors the ______. The monument ____ points to _____. [Elaborate on the monument and new name]
On this site, previously named Discovery Park upon its founding in 1990 as part of the commemoration of the quincentennial of the so-called “discovery of the new land”—stood a statue of Christopher Columbus.
After years of protests by local Kumeyaay, other Indigenous peoples, supporters, and city residents, in 2021 the Chula Vista City Council voted to remove the statue and rename the park.
We offer this in the spirit of not “erasing history” but rather as a necessary and reciprocal healing of the harms and injustice of colonial erasure and the distortion of history.
Our Task Force
Recommendations
● Disposition - Maintain statue in storage and follow the proposed framework that outlines Monument Disposition
● Marker/Art piece and language- Adopt Task Force’s recommended marker language
● Proposal(s) for renaming of Discovery Park - Adopt Task Force’s recommended proposals for renaming Discovery Park.
● Framework for Monuments (Installation, Removal, Disposition) and naming / renaming parks and/or other City facilities - Adopt Task Force’s framework