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BIG APPLE EYE ON PARK WIFI

City officials want to bring wireless Internet service back to parks and other public spaces in a way that would click both with users and the companies that pay for it.

From late 2004 to last December, WiFi Salon provided advertiser-supported service at 17 hot spots in 11 parks in every borough but Staten Island.

Then WiFi Salon went out of business, and city officials concluded its arrangement — in which the company paid a concession fee of $30,000 a year plus a percentage of gross receipts — didn’t make business sense.

So yesterday the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications asked companies for ideas about providing free WiFi service at 40 hot spots in 32 parks and public spaces in all five boroughs.

The city wants companies to suggest ways they could turn a profit while still offering the service free to users.

But City Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), who pushed for the service several years ago, said advertising won’t provide enough money to pay for wireless availability.

“WiFi in the parks is a public service, and for a public service you need some kind of city support,” Brewer said.

She says the city should seek partnerships with WiFi providers and other groups, such as business-improvement districts, that might help pay for equipment and upkeep.

There are still a few wireless Internet services in several parks and neighborhoods, including Battery Park City, Bryant Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Many are supported by business-improvement districts or park conservancies.

“It’s not a money-making thing,” said Joe Plotkin of NYCwireless, a nonprofit that has set up some networks.

bill.sanderson@nypost.com