The Triumph of Civic Virtue, the controversial Queens statue that has divided local lawmakers and residents for decades, has moved to greener pastures.
A last-minute plea from supporters who wanted to keep the statue at its present perch outside Queens Borough Hall failed to change the mind of city officials.
A crew spent almost 12 hours Saturday carefully removing the statue from its base outside Queens Borough Hall for its journey to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Under an unusual agreement with the city, the cemetery will restore the statue and then place it on display.
The Daily News was the first to report the hush-hush plan to move the statue back in July.
“I’m indignant that a statue representing civic virtue is being handled in the most secretive and bureaucratic way possible,” said Jon Torodash, a Kew Gardens resident who has been leading a recent campaign to keep the statue in Queens.
Torodash showed up early Saturday to watch the crew at work.
The statue depicts a strapping, nude man personifying civic virtue triumphantly standing over the twin sirens of vice and corruption. It sparked outrage when it was first unveiled outside City Hall in 1922.
It was banished to Queens by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, reportedly because he was tired of being “mooned” by the monument.
Claiming it was sexist, former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman tried to get it moved in the 1980s. Just months before his sexting scandal forced him from office, former Rep. Anthony Weiner suggested the city sell it on Craigslist.
City officials said the move is the best plan for the deteriorating monument, which has been worn down by neglect and decades of exposure to the elements.
“The relocation of Civic Virtue by Frederick MacMonnies to Green-Wood is part of a public-private initiative to ensure the long-term preservation of the sculpture, which will be conserved this spring,” the city said in a statement. “Civic Virtue will remain fully accessible to the public.”
“This is a sad day for Queens,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who recently led a rally in front of the statue to demand it be kept in the borough. “The people of Queens wanted this statue. They need to replace it with another large piece of Greco-Roman art immediately.”
The city and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall have discussed replacing the statue with a plaza dedicated to the achievements of women.
lcolangelo@nydailynews.com
