Light Up the Future ; Key Piece of Waterfront Land Could Showcase a Cultural Treasure

One of the more frustrating aspects of Buffalo’s dormant waterfront is the tantalizing sight of the city’s restored 1833 lighthouse perched along the water’s edge — but off limits to the public since 9/11.

Lighthouse Point, a man-made promontory that serves as the city’s maritime “front door” and borders the Times Beach nature area, is being held hostage by the war on terror. The site, which has been federally controlled since the city’s earliest days, is a working Coast Guard base that oversees operations from Ashtabula to the Thousand Islands — and security has been paramount, since the attacks of 2001.

That can and should change. Efforts to restructure the base and open Lighthouse Point to public visits once more are now under way, and demand support.

Erie Basin Marina visitors can see clearly this designated city landmark, which was entered onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and probably merits National Historic Landmark status. They should be able to visit. The Buffalo Lighthouse Association, a volunteer group that has spent about $300,000 on an ongoing restoration project, welcomed more than 20,000 festival and open house visitors to the tower between 1985 and 2001. While the Coast Guard has been as cooperative as it can with smaller scheduled tours since then, the only practical change would be toreconfigure the base and make the point public.

Rep. Brian Higgins and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton have introduced legislation that would turn the lighthouse site and about two-thirds of the adjacent Coast Guard facility into a park. Legislation sponsored by Higgins to dedicate 20 acres of the point to public use already has passed the House Transportation Committee. Clinton’s Senate legislation would require the Coast Guard to evaluate consolidating and relocating its Buffalo facilities and present a proposal within a year. The Coast Guard is on board with the idea.

The Coast Guard base here fills a vital role not just for Buffalo Harbor boaters and shipping, but for the entire eastern end of Lake Erie and all of Lake Ontario. But the maritime agency sees value in updating its facilities here — if the money can be found to do that. Coast Guard funding is stretched thin even for its vital security and safety missions, and any legislative effort for parkland will have to address the funding issues as well as the land- use ones.

Buffalo, however, has one of the two oldest American light stations on the Great Lakes, and one of the oldest standing towers. The 1833 lighthouse, since replaced by a breakwater lighthouse farther into the lake, marked the national historic juncture of the lakes and the Erie Canal. It’s a cultural and educational resource closely linked to harbor redevelopment themes, and Lighthouse Point should be open once more to the public. Let this restored treasure shine as an accessible piece of the city’s heritage, and a beacon for its waterfront future.

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