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FIRE-SALE FRENZY
FOLKS FUME AT BID FOR 'FDNY' CONDOS
By RICH CALDER, STEPHANIE GASKELL and ANDY GELLER
March 1, 2007 -- The city pressed ahead yesterday with plans to sell two shuttered Brooklyn firehouses for condos, as community groups complained they were being shut out of the process.
The groups complained they weren't given adequate notification of a City Planning Commission hearing yesterday on the sale of the Brooklyn firehouses - part of the city's plan to sell five former firehouses.
Engine 202 in Carroll Gardens and Engine 212 in Williamsburg were shuttered - despite wide public protests - in 2003. Community activists are still trying to get all five firehouses reopened, arguing that their closing has increased Fire Department response times.
Maria Pagano, president of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, said she only found out about the hearing at the last minute - in an e-mail on Tuesday from City Councilman Bill De Blasio.
She said she couldn't attend because she couldn't change her schedule.
"Of course I'm upset," she said. "This is being treated as just another piece of property that the city wants to get rid of. It's a very critical piece of our basic safety and I really don't want to hear that it could be housing because - when you tie in all the other residential projects - we're going to need another firehouse."
Sue Wolfe, who heads the community association in neighboring Boerum Hill, was equally incensed.
"This is very insulting to all the neighborhoods surrounding this firehouse," she said.
"I didn't know about this until after today's meeting. Given that the area's population is exploding with new condos, to sell a firehouse in this neighborhood is really unbelievable," she said.
Councilman David Yassky, whose district includes both firehouses, said he also found out about the hearing Tuesday night, and called the city notification "shabby."
A planning commission spokesman said the agency had taken out ads in newspapers and placed information about the hearing on its Web site.
Disputing activists' claims that it failed to notify the community boards by telephone, the spokesman said the agency never does so.
In an apparent concession to the activists, the city announced later that it is setting up Community Steering Committees to determine the future of the firehouses - which could include selling them. The committees will be made up of members of city agencies, local politicians and community leaders.
"The process of using community steering committees to determine the future use of decommissioned firehouses is collaborative," said mayoral spokesman John Gallagher. "It will result in uses for these properties that best meet the needs of the communities where they're located."
Gallagher emphasized that the purpose of the committees is not to decide whether to reopen the firehouses, but to decide what to do with them now that they're closed.
rich.calder@nypost.com
FOLKS FUME AT BID FOR 'FDNY' CONDOS
By RICH CALDER, STEPHANIE GASKELL and ANDY GELLER
March 1, 2007 -- The city pressed ahead yesterday with plans to sell two shuttered Brooklyn firehouses for condos, as community groups complained they were being shut out of the process.
The groups complained they weren't given adequate notification of a City Planning Commission hearing yesterday on the sale of the Brooklyn firehouses - part of the city's plan to sell five former firehouses.
Engine 202 in Carroll Gardens and Engine 212 in Williamsburg were shuttered - despite wide public protests - in 2003. Community activists are still trying to get all five firehouses reopened, arguing that their closing has increased Fire Department response times.
Maria Pagano, president of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association, said she only found out about the hearing at the last minute - in an e-mail on Tuesday from City Councilman Bill De Blasio.
She said she couldn't attend because she couldn't change her schedule.
"Of course I'm upset," she said. "This is being treated as just another piece of property that the city wants to get rid of. It's a very critical piece of our basic safety and I really don't want to hear that it could be housing because - when you tie in all the other residential projects - we're going to need another firehouse."
Sue Wolfe, who heads the community association in neighboring Boerum Hill, was equally incensed.
"This is very insulting to all the neighborhoods surrounding this firehouse," she said.
"I didn't know about this until after today's meeting. Given that the area's population is exploding with new condos, to sell a firehouse in this neighborhood is really unbelievable," she said.
Councilman David Yassky, whose district includes both firehouses, said he also found out about the hearing Tuesday night, and called the city notification "shabby."
A planning commission spokesman said the agency had taken out ads in newspapers and placed information about the hearing on its Web site.
Disputing activists' claims that it failed to notify the community boards by telephone, the spokesman said the agency never does so.
In an apparent concession to the activists, the city announced later that it is setting up Community Steering Committees to determine the future of the firehouses - which could include selling them. The committees will be made up of members of city agencies, local politicians and community leaders.
"The process of using community steering committees to determine the future use of decommissioned firehouses is collaborative," said mayoral spokesman John Gallagher. "It will result in uses for these properties that best meet the needs of the communities where they're located."
Gallagher emphasized that the purpose of the committees is not to decide whether to reopen the firehouses, but to decide what to do with them now that they're closed.
rich.calder@nypost.com
