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The largest city named for Christopher Columbus has called off its observance of the divisive holiday that honors the explorer.Ohio's capital city — population 860,000 — will be open for business Monday after observing Columbus Day probably "for as long as it had been in existence," said Robin Davis, a spokeswoman for Mayor Andrew Ginther.The city is making a savvy move to tie the switch to a politically safe demographic: veterans. City offices will instead close on Veterans Day, which falls on Nov. 12.Native Americans and allied groups have long criticized the holiday, saying that deaths of indigenous people are a result of Europeans.Columbus' discovery of the Americas also has been in question by experts. Columbus Day began to mark the Italian explorer's apparent arrival in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492.The Ohio city's decision to end its observance of Columbus Day was not triggered by the national movement to abolish the holiday in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day as a way of recognizing victims of colonialism, Davis said.“We wanted to be able to honor our veterans. We thought that was something that was important,” Davis told The Columbus Dispatch.The city doesn't have the budget to give its 8,500 employees both days off, she said.Columbus made its announcement Thursday in a brief news release focused on the impact on trash pickup and parking enforcement schedules. In that way, it avoided much of the consternation that has taken place elsewhere around the holiday.An attempt in Akron to rename the holiday grew ugly last year, dividing the all-Democratic city council along racial lines. Five black members voted to rename the holiday and eight white members voted not to, keeping the holiday in place.A similar effort twice failed in Cincinnati before a vote Wednesday finally recognized Columbus Day as the renamed Indigenous Peoples Day. It became the second Ohio city to do so, after Oberlin in 2017. Cleveland, which has a large Italian-American population, continues to host a major Columbus Day parade.Organizers of the 39-year-old Columbus Italian Festival, traditionally held on Columbus Day weekend, were not given advance notice of the city's decision, said festival board member Joseph Contino."It's very in vogue politically right now to do that. It's not (politically correct) for me to say anything against indigenous peoples," he said. "You can kick Christians, you can kick Catholics. That's the message that it sends to us and that's what it feels like; we're Europeans and we lop Indians' heads off, which is just not true."Contino said he viewed the decision on the holiday as a missed opportunity."If you're mayor of a city and its name is Columbus, why wouldn't you capitalize on that? Use it to unite everybody," he said. "Use this day to celebrate the entire culture, celebrate Italians and indigenous both."Tyrone Smith, director of the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, said the city's decision is another step in embracing its growing diversity."The past is the past. It may not be pretty at times, but we cannot hold what happened back then against today's society, regardless their bloodline," he said. "The fact that the city of Columbus is taking action is a victory for everyone."Fewer than half of the United States celebrate Columbus Day, The Dispatch reported. South Dakota will celebrate Native American Day, which it has done since 1990. The newspaper said that Berkeley, California, is thought to be the first city to adopt Indigenous Peoples Day in 1992.