Group forms to save Scott Street firehouse

WILKES-BARRE -- With a group handshake, 15 Parsons residents on Monday night agreed that they want to save the old No. 9 firehouse on Scott Street.

Meeting outside the rundown building, Linda Stets asked the residents what they thought about the building and the unanimous response was “keep it.”

Stets, Republican candidate for mayor, resides in Parsons and she has been trying to get incumbent Mayor Tom Leighton to respond to her inquiries about the city’s plans for the firehouse that has been closed for nearly two years.

“He won’t return my calls,” Stets told the group. “He won’t answer my e-mails either. He should tell us what the building needs and what plans the city has for it.”

Carl Lisowski, past president of the Parsons Lions Club, said a nonprofit group should be formed as soon as possible. He suggested calling the group the Friends of the Parsons No. 9 Firehouse.

“First, we have to form the nonprofit group,” Lisowski said. “Then we can go to the city and request they turn it over to us. And then we can seek funding necessary to restore it.”

Lisowski admitted that even if the building can be purchased from the city for a dollar, to get federal or state funding the building would have to be brought up to code and up to American with Disabilities Act standards.

“We will never get ownership if we don’t form a nonprofit group,” Lisowski said.

Another concern raised at the meeting was asbestos in the walls and ceilings. Leo Nowak said that if the asbestos isn’t disturbed, renovations can be made without the costly expense of removal.

Nowak and others said they would be glad to volunteer time to repair the building, constructed in 1931. Nowak owns a business in Parsons and he built the Diamond that at one time was the focal point of New Year’s Eve celebrations on Public Square.

Stets began the meeting by first suggesting that once the building is turned over to the residents of Parsons, it should be razed and a new community center be built. She even brought architectural drawings that showed an indoor basketball court, a community room and other facilities. The group flatly rejected that idea.

“We want to keep the building up,” said Charlotte Raup, who ran unsuccessfully for council in the May primary and chairs a Crime Watch group in the city. “We don’t want to tear it down. It’s got so much historical value to Parsons and the city.”

Another council candidate, Republican Walter Griffith, expressed concern about how the mayor and/or council will decide the building’s future. He said the public should be involved in the process and be kept aware of all developments.

He also said the city should provide a report on the building’s condition and estimated cost of repair.

“We’re going in the right direction now,” Stets said. “Anytime you try to do something of this magnitude, there will be difficulties. But we can do it if we stick together. And the more people see we are determined, the more Parsons residents will get involved.”

Stets said she will schedule another meeting in the near future. All those attending said they hope Mayor Leighton or a representative will attend the meeting as well.

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Parsons citizens commit to mission at meeting on future of over 70-year-old structure.

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