I wanna hold your (sculptured) hand
A sculpture promoting Ringo Starr’s “peace and love” message could be coming to town, if the idea gets by with a little help from his friends.
The Beatles drummer had a casting produced of his right hand making the peace sign, and hopes to have 24 sculptures based on it installed in public places around the world. Local developer John Yurtchuk has agreed to foot the bill for an 8½-foot tall bronze version for display here.
Buffalo’s Gary Astridge is helping Starr with his sculpture endeavor. Astridge has worked on projects with Starr for over 10 years, after helping prepare drum kits of Starr’s for display at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
Yurtchuk is friends with members of the BBC Band, of which Astridge is a member, leading to their connection. Their hope is to display the sculpture at a park Daemen University is creating on its campus.
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Greg Nayor, a Daemen official, said the idea is under discussion: “If approved, which could take some time from what we understand, Daemen would be in the position to receive and display it.”
Astridge is excited about the prospect of having a Ringo-themed sculpture here, celebrating peace: “To know that it will permanently be here makes me proud, because I’m a very pro-Buffalonian.”
– Matt Glynn
Perspective is everything
When Buffalo Place Treasurer Barbara Danner gave the nonprofit organization’s board of directors her monthly financial update, she had some mixed news to report.
The organization had $400,000 in revenues to date, which was down about $21,000 from the budget. That was largely because Rotary Rink was “down and out because of the weather” this season – between shutdowns related to blizzards and an ice storm, and warmer weather not allowing enough ice – as well as reduced operations fees from helping Be Our Guest at Canalside, where hours were also reduced.
On the other hand, on the expense side, payroll was also down by $9,000, because there wasn’t as much need for snowfighting all season as expected.
And while net income to date of $64,000 is lower than budgeted, there’s plenty of time to make that up in the coming months, Danner added.
But most importantly, she said, the organization had $345,000 in cash on hand, in advance of its special-charge tax revenues coming in next month. So the nonprofit hasn’t had to tap its line of credit from M&T Bank, “which is good,” she said.
Well, not for everyone.
“I’m just going to take exception to one thing you said, Barb, that not having to use your line of credit is a good thing,” said Buffalo Place Chairman Keith Belanger, an executive at M&T. “Not always.”
– Jonathan D. Epstein
All for one
It really is true that sports brings people together.
Even politicians.
Typically, when the Erie County Legislature honors someone from the floor, one legislator, and maybe a few others, stands in front of the Legislature chambers with the honoree to read the proclamation. But when it came to celebrate the career of veteran radio sportscaster Howard Simon, who has retired after 33 years in radio, most of them at WGR 550, all 11 legislators headed to the front of the room to honor Simon’s service to sports fans “as we celebrated thrilling victories, and of course, grieved heartbreaking defeats together.”
Even though Simon made his living in talk radio, when he was asked if he wished to make any public remarks, he originally balked, saying the reason he retired is so that he doesn’t have to talk anymore. He did thank the legislators, saying humbly, “I’m just a guy who talks about sports.”
– Sandra Tan
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I’ve been a business reporter at The Buffalo News since 2004, now covering residential and commercial real estate and development amid WNY’s resurgence. I’m an upstate native, proud to call Buffalo my home, and committed to covering it thoroughly.
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I use the Erie County government beat to find issues and stories that tell us something important about how we live. An alumna of the Columbia Journalism School and Buffalo News staff reporter since 2000, I can be reached at stan@buffnews.com. Follow me on Twitter @SandraTanBN and Facebook.com/SandraTanBN
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