PASSAIC — The city is once again trying to save its century-old "100 Steps," a crumbling staircase at the end of Harrison Street that actually has 103 steps and leads up to a park dedicated to firefighters killed on the job.

After the city failed to get a historic preservation grant to save the staircase of alternating flights separated by landings, it will try again as it applies for a $400,000 open space grant from the county. The grant money, if received, would also be used to improve the Latona-Griffin Park at the top landing.

The steps' 100-year-old concrete has cracked, the metal handrails are rusted and the paint has mostly chipped off.

Now boxed off by a battered chain-link fence, marked with a do-not-enter sign and littered with trash, the dilapidated 100 Steps was once a well-traveled route used by locals trying to catch a train or trolley or as "Rocky"-like place for athletes to train.

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Mayor Hector Lora tried to have the steps declared historic in order to acquire preservation funds.

"Just because George Washington didn't sleep here doesn't mean it's not historic," Lora said.

The plan didn't pan out.

Ron Smith, who lived a few doors away from the steps on Harrison Street, also wants them preserved.

"They should be preserved. It is historic to the residents," Smith said, adding that he ran up and down the steps to get into shape for basketball season.

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For the last decade, climbers have ignored the "do not enter" sign and jump the perimeter fence access the stairs. The trespassers are mostly "youths" looking to get high, neighbors said.

Manuel Nunez lives next to the pocket park where Harrison Street's extension meets Spruce Street, and last year he called the current situation a nuisance. He said teens and young adults climb the fence to smoke pot.

"At night you can't sleep with all the noise and laughter," Nunez said last summer.

He said he would like to see the staircase and the park repaired and to get the streetlights working again. Then maybe families with small children will replace those looking to get high.

Councilman Terrence Love said it's time the city addressed the crumbling steps, which are a safety issue and affect quality of life.

"It is dark and overgrown," Love said. "Kudos to the mayor."

City Business Administrator Rick Fernandez said that after all Passaic County freeholders visited the steps, he's hopeful they will help.

"There's a lot of support," Fernandez said.

Resident Howard Pujols said he climbed those steps countless times as a child and hopes they can be saved, especially as they lead to a park dedicated to firefighters who died in a 1970 fire.

The Latona-Griffin Park honors Passaic Fire Department Battalion Chief Joseph Griffin and rookie Firefighter Samuel Latona, who died in a fire on March 12, 1970.

They were killed when a wall collapsed at the 181 Third St. fire. The city will hold a ceremony at the park on March 12, the 50th anniversary of their deaths.

Lora says he doesn't expect to get the full $400,000 needed to fix the steps from the county. He said he will seek grants from other sources.

City Historian Mark Auerbach, who dates the construction of the steps to between 1901 and 1916, said the county funds should be used to preserve more worthy historic sites.

Email: fagan@northjersey.com