ANGOLA, N.Y. (WKBW) — A pile of trash has sat just off Main Street in Angola for months. Local businesses say it’s driving away customers, but the building owner’s hands are tied, because everything belongs to a squatter.
Just off Main Street in Angola is one of the village’s oldest storefronts, Shultz & Co.
Behind that iconic building is a huge pile of garbage, the owner of the local storefront Phil Vankoughnet tells 7 News that this eyesore has been bringing his business down for months.
“It [comes from] an old restaurant, so we’ve got booths and tables and junk and papers, you name it. All piled up, it gets rained on, the wind blows, it looks like the dumps,” Phil said. “Customers come in every single day saying, ‘What’s going on?’ Nobody seems to have an answer about when it will go away.”
Those customers of his, like Joe Mecca, share that same sentiment.
“[What if] somebody is coming in to move here, and they see that?” Joe said. “It’s just not right, something should be done.”
This pile of garbage was taken out of the long-closed Desperado’s Barbecue and Catering Company, and it has been sitting there for at least 4 months.
Every cloth booth, chair and pillow has sat outside in rain and snow.
“I’m proud of my village, I was born and raised here, and I think it’s being disrespected,” Phil said.
Last Monday, Phil thought he might finally see the garbage go away.
He was told at the April 15 village board meeting “the attorney spoke with code enforcement who stated the owner has a dumpster ordered.”
However, nine days later, that pile still sat untouched.
“That’s kind of why [7 News] was called, what else can we do?” Phil said.
7 News reporter Derek Heid got to work for Phil, and he made some calls.
He was able to find the owner of the building, Al Violanti, and within 20 minutes of speaking to him on the phone, Al showed up with the very dumpster Phil has been waiting for.
Al tells 7 News that he’s been doing renovations since he bought the building in December, and this garbage was part of the demolition he started. It just hadn’t been cleaned up yet.
“Were you planning on doing it before I came here?” 7 News reporter Derek Heid asked.
“I was already on the way. This was all in the works, you just happened to be here right on the day, I don’t know how that happened. It’s funny though,” Al said.
The reason that garbage was not thrown in a dumpster sooner was actually out of Al’s hands.
Unknown to him, when he bought the building, he inherited a squatter.
“The current squatter living upstairs claimed he owned the contents,” Al said. “Per squatter’s rights, we had to give him the proper amount of time to remove his belongings, we left it as it is.”
“It’s been four months now?” Derek asked.
“Yeah, which was the required time per the squatter’s law that we had to leave it,” Al said.
Immediately after that conversation, Al then took it upon himself to clear the trash and place it inside that very dumpster he brought.
That was a welcome sight for Phil to see.
“We’ve had lots of promises before, of it’ll be gone soon,” Phil said. “It happened in one day because you came out here, and I’m eternally grateful.”
Al said that the dumpster will stay there for about a week, and when the squatter is officially evicted, he will take it away.
As for those renovations, he hopes to open a brand new restaurant inside of the Desperado’s building in 2026.
“Thank you Derek and Channel 7 for coming out here, because you are the guys that made it happen,” Phil said.
With all of that going on, 7 News reporter Derek Heid spoke to attorney Justin Friedman, who specializes in landlord-tenant law for Friedman & Ranzenhofer Attorneys at Law, about what protections that squatter and the landlord actually have.
