Community Board 2 backs use of Hudson Square open‑space funds for James J. Walker Park, clarifies Dapolito Center excluded

Manhattan Community Board 2’s executive committee voted to support a request from the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to use Hudson Square open‑space funds for improvements to the James J. Walker Park playground and adjacent public spaces, and amended the resolution to make clear the request does not fund work on the Tony Dapolito Center or demolition of the center.

The committee said the funding would cover upgrades to the playground, the pedestrian pathways between surrounding streets, benches, trees, and recreational courts in the area between the Keith Haring mural and the JJ Walker ballfield. Committee members noted the mayor’s recent corridor announcement that included roughly $160 million in city funding and an estimated 100,000 square feet of new or improved recreation space for the broader Clarkson Corridor; the board’s action focuses only on the neighborhood playground elements that were described at the meeting.

Board Chair Valerie Dela Rosa opened the meeting and framed the item as a Parks Department request to use a Hudson Square open‑space fund that the board’s materials say has collected roughly $7 million since the 2013 rezoning. Committee discussion centered on scope and on preserving the board’s previously stated position about the Dapolito Center: members asked for, and secured, explicit language in the resolution stating the board’s support for the park work “does not include the Tony Dapolito Center” and does not endorse demolition of that building.

Committee members described the next steps as follows: if the board’s amended resolution is transmitted, Hudson Square’s appointed manager of the fund would be asked to release the requested dollars, and Parks would proceed with community design and procurement. Committee members said Parks has indicated it will hire consultants to study what, if anything, of the Dapolito Center building could be salvaged; members asked that any study results and design materials be shared with the board and posted to the board’s website.

The motion, as amended, passed without recorded opposition. The executive committee asked staff to transmit the board’s vote and the clarified language to Parks, Hudson Square’s fund manager and the local elected offices that have been engaged on the corridor planning.

The board’s action does not itself authorize construction; it expresses the board’s support for Parks’ funding request and sets a formal position for subsequent community‑design work.

A copy of the committee presentation and the Parks materials, committee members said, will be posted to the board’s website when available and will be circulated to members before the full‑board meeting scheduled in September.