City not observing Columbus Day

Columbus city government will be open Monday, the federal holiday that celebrates the city’s namesake.

The move represents a major change for city government, which has traditionally shut down operations on Columbus Day. But the city announced Thursday in a news release that it will not observe Columbus Day as a holiday and will close for Veterans Day instead. Because the Nov. 11 holiday falls on Sunday this year, it will be observed nationally on Monday, Nov. 12.

Some Native Americans and other groups have criticized the federal holiday honoring Columbus, whose credit for being first to discover the Americas has been questioned by some historians and because of the deaths of indigenous people that ultimately resulted after Europeans arrived here.

Robin Davis, a spokeswoman for Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, said that was not part of the city’s decision.

“We wanted to be able to honor our veterans. We thought that was something that was important,” Davis said.

Columbus Day is not celebrated widely across the U.S., with just under half of the 50 states treating it as a paid holiday for their employees, according to the Council of State Governments. At least a handful of states and some local governments have chosen different names for the federal holiday, such as as Indigenous People’s Day.

Oberlin in northeast Ohio became the state’s first city to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day in 2017. Akron considered a similar change last year but voted 8-5 to retain Columbus Day as a recognized holiday.

Tennessee and some other states and public bodies continue to celebrate Columbus Day, but observe the holiday on the Friday after the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Ohio State University campuses are open Monday, and the university celebrates Columbus Day the Friday after Thanksgiving.

The city of Columbus announced in its release that trash collection, parking enforcement and other city functions will operate on their regular schedules next week.

In addition, Columbus Metropolitan Library branches will be open Monday and Central Ohio Transit Authority offices will be open and buses will run on a regular schedule.

But because of the Columbus Day holiday Monday:

• All federal, state and county offices will be closed.

• Post offices will be closed and there will be no regular mail delivery.

• Banks and bond markets that trade in U.S. government debt will be closed, but the stock markets will be open.