{"id":671446,"date":"2026-03-21T12:10:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/671446\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T12:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:10:54","slug":"fate-of-nyc-rec-center-with-keith-haring-mural-still-unclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/671446\/","title":{"rendered":"Fate of NYC rec center with Keith Haring mural still unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mamdani administration is brazenly pushing plans<\/a> that could ruin a priceless Keith Haring mural in the West Village \u2014 despite the new mayor having previously blasted the project<\/a> while a candidate, foes say.<\/p>\n

The beloved 116-year-old Tom Dapolito Recreation Center in Manhattan was set to be repaired with $120 million in allocated city funding starting in 2021.<\/p>\n

A priceless Keith Haring mural decorates a West Village community center.<\/p>\n

But those plans were walked back by the previous Adams administration when the site was deemed too far gone, and it was proposed that the site possibly be razed and a new recreation complex be built in its place.<\/p>\n

Then-mayoral candidate Mamdani denounced Adams\u2019 move during an October town hall, alleging they had reversed a \u201ccommitment that had been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can someone who was so excited about that more than $100 million commitment, about honoring the legacy of someone who fought for these very neighborhoods, how can that person continue to believe in democracy if this is their experience?\u201d Mamdani said at the time<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite clear to me that the important thing to do here is not just to fulfill the promises you have made, but also do your best to fulfill the promises that have been made prior to you,\u201d he added, urging the former mayor to \u201cfollow through on this commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hizzoner now appears to be inexplicably keeping in line with Adams\u2019 plan of possibly razing the site and rebuilding completely.<\/p>\n

City reps touted the past administration\u2019s plans<\/a> for a 335-foot-tall development \u2014 complete with a \u201crecreational, cultural and fitness hub\u201d with a pool \u2014 during a community board meeting last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The historic recreation site could possibly be razed to make room for new development. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani previously blasted his predecessor over going back on his word to revamp the site as opposed to demolishing it. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

The complex, dubbed Hudson Mosaic, \u201cis premised on the notification that the old center will be demolished,\u201d lamented Andrew Berman, executive director of the architectural advocacy group Village Preservation, to The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit unnerving to see the plan move forward unchanged.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Multiple Post requests for comment from City Hall were not returned.<\/p>\n

Summer Omar, founder of the Coalition to Save the Public Recreation Center Downtown, told The Post that despite hearing mum from Mam, \u201cWe\u2019re still in a place of being hopeful and optimistic that what they\u2019re planning on and working on are repair plans for the rec center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s consistent with what he campaigned on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made a campaign commitment \u2026 and they still have this window of opportunity to implement that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Parks Department officials told The Post late last year that the Dapolito Center will be demolished and converted into a \u201creimagined outdoor pool and pool house\u201d as part of a massive affordable housing project and that the 18-foot mural painted by iconic late street artist Haring will stay in its current home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis plan keeps the wall that the Haring mural is situated on in place, and includes restoration of the mural,\u201d a rep from the Keith Haring Foundation told The Post this past week.<\/p>\n

But Berman said it\u2019s still \u201cunclear\u201d if the 1987 mural will be properly secured during demolition, as the Adams administration previously indicated it would demolish the wall the mural sits on and place the art on an entirely new slab.<\/p>\n

Haring paints the iconic 1987 mural adorning the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center in the West Village. <\/p>\n

A city Parks Department representative told The Post that any demolition is still far down the line. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unclear to us how it would work \u2013- if the wall is in fact being demolished and rebuilt,\u201d Berman said. \u201cThere were not enough details to say we are comfortable with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advocate added that a glimmer of hope in the fight for preservation is the empty City Council seat that reps the area because of former Councilman Erik Bottcher\u2019s move to the state Senate.<\/p>\n

Each candidate has since shown support for the preservation and \u201cwill be demanding concrete answers\u201d after the April 28 special election, Berman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only been two to three months of the Mamdani administration,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re still hopeful that the administration will keep its word in terms of restoration of the center.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mamdani administration is brazenly pushing plans that could ruin a priceless Keith Haring mural in the West…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":671447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,112907,5249,5248,405,403,7619,5226,5225,5228,5227,5312,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,19146],"class_list":["post-671446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-keith-haring","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-parks","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa","tag-west-village"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116267102175175044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}