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NY Post
New York Post
2 Jun 2024


NextImg:Confusion swirls as NYC pool with Keith Haring mural unexpectedly closed for another summer

Another summer down the drain.

Village residents’ heads were swimming as they found out they’d go another year without a beloved neighborhood pool famous for a Keith Haring mural that has been closed for five years.

The Tony Dapolito Recreation Center pool, which is still “in need of extensive renovations,” was a fixture of the community sandwiched between Greenwich Village and Hudson Square before it was shuttered for repairs in 2019.

Resident Kitty Hegeman, who had been using the pool for a decade, railed that progress appears slow at the site since it was closed five years ago.

The Tony Dapolito Recreation Center outdoor pool once served as a space for summertime fun for kids and adults. Tony Dapolito Recreation Center

“Years and years go by and nothing happens,” Hegeman told The Post. “Each summer it looks worse.

“It’s just a waste just sitting there for so long. If you are not going to fix it then make it useful,” she added.

Plans to renovate the rec center for $4 million began in 2017, but the scope soon ballooned to a budget of $17 million, with only 72% of the construction completed as of May 2024, according to the city Parks Department.

“This is one of our highest priorities and it is under active consideration,” Mayor Eric Adam’s office said in a statement. “We are evaluating several scenarios to ensure we make the best investment for the neighborhood, maximizing recreation space in a cost-effective manner.”

But residents say they feel the pool is anything but a priority for the fifth summer in a row as they’re told to go use other facilities instead.

The outdoor pool is adorned with a mural from famed artist Keith Haring. Tony Dapolito Recreation Center

“It’s horrible,” said Cristinia Diaz, 41, who lives in the area with her two young sons. “They have to fix it.

“The damage from being closed defeats the purpose of getting it fixed soon – you leave it long enough and it deteriorates and takes longer to fix,” she added.

Becca Quinn, 35, said the pool was once the pride of the neighborhood along with the Haring’s mural, the city artist whose pop art popularized Big Apple graffiti style in the 1980s.

The site is still in need of renovations after it was shut down in 2019. Tony Dapolito Recreation Center

Quinn called the current state of the pool an “outrage and disservice” to the community, adding that she now sees cracks and paint peeling away on the mural despite the city’s insistence that it keeps a close eye on the art work.

“They can’t get it together. It looks awful,” Quinn said. “Everything here is expensive and people work very hard to live here … they should have access to these services.”

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Several other residents echoed the frustration over the closed pool and feared that the lack of summertime amenities will have negative consequences for the children.

“In the summertime we need services for the kids so they have something to do, to be occupied and not hanging out … to be in a structured, supervised environment,” resident Andrew Leong said.

Lloyd Dennis, 58, agreed, noting that parents need places like the pool and rec center to keep their kids busy.

Residents have complained that not much has changed in the five years that the pool has been closed. Tony Dapolito Recreation Center

“You are gonna have lots of kids running around without guidance, you know, expect the crime rate to spike as it normally does in the summer,” he said.

With the pool closed for yet another summer, the city has instructed residents to go to the Hamilton Fish Pool at 128 Pitt St.to fill their needs, but many have complained that the alternative is already too crowded and out of the way.

“I want it back,” Hegeman said of the Tony Dapolito pool. “A public outdoor pool in the Village would be wonderful.”

With reporting by Craig McCarthy and Alex Oliveira