Civic Groups To Get Control Of Contested Firehouses

The Bloomberg administration has backed away from plans to sell five closed firehouses to private developers, as local elected officials yesterday announced a deal with the city to hand over the buildings to groups for community use.

The firehouses — located in Harlem, Williamsburg, Cobble Hill, Lower Manhattan, and Queens — were shuttered in 2003 amid budget cuts.

The city's desire to sell the spaces has long been a sore point for the affected neighborhoods; residents have repeatedly pushed to see them reopened.

Community members and elected officials have held numerous protests, including a 2003 demonstration in Cobble Hill at which Council Member William de Blasio was arrested.

The new agreement mandates that the buildings serve as community facilities, which bars them from being converted into apartments and some other uses. Four of the firehouses will likely be sold for a nominal fee and the building in Cobble Hill will be leased, leaving open the possibility that it could be reopened as a firehouse in the future.

"The firehouses will once again become important beacons for their communities," Council Member David Yassky, whose district includes the Williamsburg firehouse, said in a statement.

An activist in Williamsburg, Philip DePaolo, said the deal doesn't go far enough and that the firehouses should be reopened, as the area's population is growing rapidly.

"We're not asking for more service, we're just asking for what we had," Mr. DePaolo said.