Page 12 - BusinessWest June 9, 2021
P. 12

 Editorial
GSpringfield Needs Its Symphony
oing back to the start of the pandemic, we expressed until negotiations with the musicians’ union are resolved.
concern for the survival of not only the businesses in Reading between all the lines, it appears that concerns about Springfield and across the region, but also the institutions the future of the venerable, 75-year-old institution are very real and
that contribute to the quality of life we all enjoy here. quite warranted.
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 That’s a broad category that includes a number of museums, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Springfield Thunderbirds and other sports teams, and arts venues ranging
from Jacob’s Pillow to Tanglewood to
We sincerely hope the SSO is able to rebound from what is cer- tainly the greatest challenge of its existence. Springfield needs these
the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. All of them are part of the fabric of this community.
Reading between all the lines, it
“
appears that concerns about the future of the venerable, 75-year-old institution are very real and quite warranted.”
institutions to become the destination that we all hope that it can be.
Indeed, many things go into making a community livable — jobs, neigh- borhoods, schools, a thriving down- town, and, yes, culture. Springfield has already lost CityStage; it simply can- not afford to lose another thread of its fabric.
This is especially true as the state and the nation emerge from this pan- demic. We’ve heard the talk that large
 Among all those, perhaps the one
we feared for the most was the sym-
phony, which has seen several chang-
es in leadership over the past decade
and has seemingly struggled to attract
younger and broader audiences. If
there was an institution that couldn’t
afford to be on the sidelines, out of sight, and in many cases out of mind, it was the SSO.
urban areas are now less attractive to some segments of the popu- lation, who are now looking more longingly toward open spaces and less crowded areas. And we’ve seen dramatic evidence of this in our own real-estate market.
Springfield is to emerge as a player in this new environment, a true destination, then it will need institutions like the SSO to create that quality of life that both the young and old are seeking out as they search for places to call home.
The SSO has certainly been rocked by this pandemic. Emerging from it will be a stern test. We certainly hope it can move forward and be part of Springfield and this region for decades to come. v
   These fears gained some legitimacy last week when musicians who play for the orchestra issued a press release that doubled as both warning and call to action. These musicians, some of whom have been playing for the SSO for decades, raised questions about how committed the SSO’s board is to everything from giving long- time maestro Kevin Rhodes a new contract to a 2021-22 season for the SSO. They asked for “an encore, not a curtain call.”
The SSO’s interim executive director, John Anz, responded by saying many of these issues are intertwined, and the orchestra can- not proceed with a new contract for Rhodes or a 2021-22 season
Editorial
Andy Yee: An Appreciation
  BAy George O’Brien
ndy Yee, who passed away late
last month, was the true defini-
tion of a serial entrepreneur. Even though he had a number of busi- nesses, especially restaurants within the Bean Group, he was always looking for that next challenge, that next opportu- nity.
He took on each project with an abun- dance of energy and enthusiasm that was as inspiring as it was contagious. And many of his undertakings were not just business ventures — they were game changers in our local communities, difficult yet suc- cessful efforts to save institutions such as the Student Prince in downtown Spring- field and the White Hut in West Springfield from being relegated to the past tense.
In 2015, BusinessWest named Yee and several of his business partners, including Peter Pan Chairman and CEO Peter Pick- nelly and Kevin and Michael Vann, as Dif- ference Makers for their efforts to save the Student Prince. And that title certainly fit him. He was a difference maker as a busi- ness owner and entrepreneur, as a family man, and as a leader in the community.
The Student Prince was struggling when Yee and Picknelly stepped forward. Theirs was a business proposition, to be sure,
but it was much more than that. It was an effort to save something that had become a part of the fabric of the city and of the
“
as a business owner and entrepreneur, as a family man, and as a leader in the community.
both establishments live on, and Yee is a huge reason why.
As a business writer who interviewed him dozens of times over the past two decades, I was always struck by how ener- getic he was, how hands-on he was in every endeavor he became involved with, and how he always had one eye on the present and the other on the future, trying to antic- ipate what was to come and be ready for it.
That is the essence of a leader, and that’s another word that fits Yee like a glove.
His latest endeavor is a restaurant proj- ect in Court Square in Springfield, another landmark that needed someone to step forward and give it a new direction, a new future. Yee was part of a large team doing just that.
We sincerely hope this project moves forward. It will be difficult without his lead- ership, his enthusiasm, and his ability to get the tough projects done. It will be a fit- ting tribute — yet another one — to how he had the ability to not only open a business, but change a community for the better — and make a huge difference.
He will be missed. v
He was a difference maker
   ”
  region. It was more about community than it was about dollars and cents — although Yee, a very smart businessperson, was also focused on the dollars and cents as well.
The same was true with the White Hut in West Springfield — a different kind of restaurant, to be sure, but with a very simi- lar brand of emotional attachment. Today,
 12 JUNE 9, 2021
OPINION
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