It’s been empty since June of 2020 and the statue that once stood atop the granite pedestal is packaged away somewhere near the State Capitol. St. Paul restaurateur Pat Mancini knows that it is unlikely the 10-foot-tall bronze depiction of Christopher Columbus will ever return to its previous perch.

But he wonders if the time has come to do something with the empty space that occupies a prominent location near the State Capitol building. If it is replaced with something else, he is putting in markers for something honoring the people who paid for the Columbus statue itself in 1931.