Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer on Friday announced that the city will appeal the Cherokee Triangle Architectural Review Committee’s (ARC) vote that denied a city plan to remove the controversial John Breckinridge Castleman monument from its location in the Triangle.
This comes after a 3-to-3 tied vote during the committee’s meeting on Wednesday; without a majority vote, the motion to remove the statue failed.
The city’s appeal will be submitted to the Landmarks Commission within the next 30 days, per a news release.
Fischer had announced in August plans to move the statue after reviewing a new set of guidelines and principles for public art, which came out of a monthslong research and deliberation process by the Public Art and Monuments Advisory Committee.
Jean Porter, a city spokesperson, said in an email sent Thursday that Fischer knew that a vote would have to be taken by the ARC when he announced intentions to move the monument.
“We were aware of the process beforehand but believed it would be approved. We are disappointed it was not," Porter wrote.
The Castleman statue has been vandalized four times since August of 2017. The statue became a point of public discussion because of the subject’s service in the Confederate army.
