Station 16

It seems that Albero also has all the answers to the disposition of the old firehouse. According to him it could be renovated at a minimal cost. I fear Albero does not know the building very well. The heating system in place now is obsolete. In no way would it be conducive to an office setting. A complete revamping of the system would be in order as well as a complete makeover of the interior. New interior walls ands insulation would be a must. Currently the only A/C in the building is window units. The basement has no heat whatsoever, unless you stand real close to the boiler which is located under the only stairway to the ground floor, which is directly below the only stairway to the second floor. That’s right. There is only one means of egress from the basement to the next floor. The bay door in the basement doesn’t count because if it is down and the power fails it cannot be opened from the inside. There is no secondary means of egress from the second floor should an emergency occur that blocks the main stairway. A secondary internal stairway or an external fire escape would be in order.

The current kitchen is in the basement. Near the bay door in the basement is a floor drain that spills directly to the river. On more than one occasion rats have been seen in the basement entering and exiting via this drain. The basement has often flooded during storm surge or an extremely high flood tide. Maybe this drain could be closed permanently, but I believe if that were feasible it would have been done long before now. Minimal cost to renovate? It has been looked into. The cost to renovate and maintain the building even as a fire station is prohibative. Heaven only knows what the cost would be for anything else.
I spent the better part of 30 years working in that building and over the years there were many attempts to improve the living conditions. Many solutions were put in place as stopgap measures to make the building last a little while longer. Now it has been deemed surplus. So be it, sell it or give it away. The fact is the City is going to dispose of it so there is no point beating this dead horse any longer, especially since the beating is only meant to discredit the city government as a whole.