The Non-Sequitur Follies: Pan Am House

In the opening salvo of the non-sequitur follies, we had Al Coppola threatening to tear down the little white Pan Am house in a fit of pique over the fact that his friend’s restaurant was denied permission to install an awning.

Pretty much all of Buffalo, except for a misguided few, gave a collective, “huh?”

But Al has changed his mind. He doesn’t want to tear down the house as a pointless response to the goings on at the Stillwater Cafe. Instead, he wants to move it.

He wants to move the house to Columbus Parkway, near the Peace Bridge.

Poor little white house – a pawn in a chess game Coppola is playing with an imaginary friend.

Why would he want to take what is ostensibly an historic house away from the area – the site of the Pan Am Expo – that makes it historic in the first place?

Why, to make some kind of point about Peace Bridge expansion!

If planners tear down some homes in the Columbus Parkway area to make way for the bridge project, then they’ll also have to tear down his “historic treasure,” Coppola said.

In the meantime, he vowed to push to have the building, which was built in the 1850s, designated a city landmark.

City officials have informed Coppola that any plan to move the vacant building would require permits from numerous departments.

Coppola, a former Buffalo Common Council member and state senator, said he’s not concerned that critics will brand him an obstructionist. He claimed the Peace Bridge expansion as it is currently proposed would be one of the most “colossal mistakes” the region has ever made. He said he feels compelled to take steps that might prod planners to revise blueprints.

Of course! Why, if the planners are perfectly willing to tear down a whole swath of neighborhood, this one little white house – outside of its historical context – will make them think twice, by gum!

Yesterday, Coppola had a letter to the editor published in the News that basically said, “ok, yeah, diesel is much cleaner now, what with ultra-low sulfur fuel and particulate traps, but what about the brake dust!??!?!!! It’s got asbestos in it!!!!!!

Oh, and also he calls PBA director Ron Reinas”[t]his interloper from Port Colborne, Ont.” who “has an agenda that needs to be exposed.” Rather than expose it, Coppola is satisfied merely to hurl the insinuation without follow-through, evidence, or back-up of any kind:

Who are the friends of the authority who will really benefit from more dust, more fumes, more trucks?

Now, I don’t know if brake dust emissions have ever been measured or subjected to testing in any way, but my gut tells me that’s a losing argument.

Given that it costs an awful lot of money to move a building – money that Coppola probably doesn’t have, or doesn’t want to spend – can we think of some more non-sequiture uses for that pretty little bargaining chip on Delaware?

Maybe we can threaten to throw it in the Lake if the state doesn’t pass the Great Lakes Compact.

Maybe we can threaten to move it next to the Skyway to demand that they both be demolished.

Maybe we can place it, stud by stud, inside the Central Terminal to highlight its plight.

Maybe it’s fine just where it is, in cloudcuckooland.

Any more ideas? I mean, the sky’s the limit.