1674-43 Gerry Sanchez ••+r .v, aw. a ,Tat a.tt Y• I V, -I VVO " .n .cry.v a �c 17v1.
• VINCENT TRUNZO
. 331 WEST 57TH STREET SUITE lbc
NEW YORK NY 10019
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Columbus statue to Beaco I f
Beacon officials show interest
By DANIEL CASE possibility that the statue might find a home in Bea-
con. Tallix, a local art foundry,is formulating plans
he discoverer of the New World...and now a for a facility to include a sculpture garden," Mayor
Beacon to the Hudson Valley? Clara Lou Gould wrote to him Feb. 2.
Developer Gerardo Sanchez is committed to "There are,of course,some questions on the
bringing a 400-foot tall Russian statue of Columbus to part of both Tallix and the city,"she continued.Later,
the region. Newburgh, he believes, offers the ideal she said,they included concerns about the aesthetic
site for it. . impact of the statue and its structural soundness.
But officials there have so farbeen lukewarm, To address the first one,the city is consider-
and if they really don't want it,their opposite number ing flying balloons'from the proposed site. Sculptor
across the river has expressed interest. Zurab Tsereteli will,Sanchez has promised,visit the'
Sanchez made a presentation to Beacon City area soon to inspect possible sites and answer the
Council in late January. "We are interested in the (Cont.on p.2)
• " ---- " ---":; IVUID t IUDSON•'a IMES . WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 199.3,
i
• Columbus statue.. . • . i
(Cont.from p.1) with the mountain as a backdrop,would be a be tier .
engineering questions. location
The statue, currently in sections in ware- Members of UNICO, the Italian-American
Brodsky, D- houses in Russia and St. Petersburg, Fla., was in- service organization that raised money for a much •
ttal Conserva- tended as a gift by then-Soviet leader Mikhail smaller statue of Columbus currently on Newburgh's
ve developers Gorbachev to the U.S.in 1991. waterfront,have politely informed Sanchez that they
proposals for Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union,the will not.support his efforts. Some of them felt up-
viththepublic gift was never formally offered. The Russian Acad- staged.
em of Art still owns it,and has been trying to find an But, across the river, "We have a spot we
he Stewart Air Y ry g says city willing to take it. think it could go,"sa s Tallix chairman Lee Baiter.He
"Weare actingas facilitators,"says Sanchez. hastens to add that the decision is a political one,to be
fission has said y
vever,Empire The decision is ultimately the Russians',but he would made by the citizens of Beacon,and the process is in
Overseeing the like to see a letter from Newburgh expressing interest a"very,very preliminary'state right now.
the proposals before Tsereteli comes. Tallix is already storing another controver-
San Juan, Puerto Rico,is the only other con- sial statue, a 35-foot statue of a Portuguese queen
'nth have been tender for the statue,heclaims.Baltimore and Colum- originally destined for a waterfront in Queens that
clause in state bus,Ohio,had expressed interest at one time but no has been held up by political objections to her possible
fig them public longer are in the running. involvement in the slave trade.
!privatization. In either city, the waterfront would be the Beacon plans to hold a public hearing on the
likelylocation.He had consideredNewbur h'sSnake matter sometime soon. •
prgted as bar= g
ring th.,;r plans Hill,but that would require the use of a city land,and Sanchez, who has written a book about Co-
he didn't want togo through thatprocess. lumbus, remains steadfast. He believes the statue
bet\ icon- g would be a major tourist attraction and economic
have strongly Newburgh officials have asked Sanchez to 1
so. provide them with a scale model of how the statue boon to the region. ; ,
ld have a bear- would look in various locations. Privately, some of Newburgh is still his first choice,but"we will
art properties, them have expressed the belief that Beacon,without do whatever it takes to keep[it] from going to Puerto;
ook,would be Washington's headquarters to compete with it and Rico,"he pledges.