Mayor’s Office agrees to create community committees to find new users. On April 9, 2007, the Planning Commission approved four applications by DCAS to sell four closed firehouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The plan sparked controversy with residents, community boards, Borough Presidents Scott Stringer and Marty Markowitz, and Council Members Bill de Blasio and David Yassky, who argued that their districts needed increased FDNY services and, if the firehouses remained closed, only a community service should replace the FDNY.

With 136 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, closed by the City in 2003 for budgetary reasons, Markowitz and residents argued that increasing construction of Williamsburg and Greenpoint high-rises and the influx of new residents required increased FDNY services in the area. Similarly, Markowitz and Cobble Hill Brooklyn residents asked that any use of the former firehouse at 299 DeGraw Street be temporary only until the City, which closed the location in 2003, returns Engine Company 204 to that location. They argued that the need for FDNY services would increase significantly as denser development continued in Downtown Brooklyn and construction started at the Atlantic Yards. (read more…)