LETTERS – May 2026
Restore Dapolito, Don’t Demolish It
Thank you for the excellent articles covering the plans for city-owned properties at 388 Hudson Street and the existing Tony Dapolito Recreation Center on Clarkson Street.
I have known Tobi Bergman, the writer of the article Just Imagine-A Wide Open Park Space From Varick to Hudson, since I started going to Community Board 2 meetings with Doris Diether in 2015, when Tobi was the Chair of CB2. I deeply respect his service to the CB2 and to park space in general; he has been a champion for sports fields and Hudson River Park.
Unfortunately, Tobi seems to be blinded by his devotion to parks, to the point that he is advocating the destruction of a cherished and viable historic structure, for no better reason than it would provide more park space.
The fallacy of such an argument is apparent. If the goal is to add more park space, then design the vacant 388 Hudson site for parks; no demolition necessary! If recreation spaces are needed, repair the Dapolito Center, already dedicated to recreation use! Of course, the community has correctly declared that a restored Dapolito Center and additional recreation space in 388 Hudson are both badly needed and wanted.
Now that city records have been revealed that include the 2022 complete working drawings for the city Parks Department, by the esteemed firms of WXY Architects, Silman Structural Engineers, and Li-Saltzman, there is no doubt that the building is viable for restoration. The city has also allotted $100 million for the work to be done. Let it be done!
Brian J Pape, AIA
Child Protective Services
Too often, Child Protective Services (CPS) improperly intervenes in struggling families’ lives by removing children instead of actually addressing the root causes of the family’s hardship. Poverty, a lack of universal childcare, unstable and expensive housing, and limited access to healthcare are frequently mistaken for neglect when a parent is trying to do the best they can with the limited resources they have. When agencies respond with separation rather than support, families are traumatized and communities are weakened.
This, of course, does not apply in cases of true abuse and neglect. But many parents involved in the CPS system are not abusive, just overwhelmed and underfunded. We need a push in resources in areas such as mental health, substance abuse, childcare, and more healthy nourishment programs for families in need. I would love to see more support and funding for these kinds of programs (e.g. CARES, Rainbow Room, etc.)
Kaitlyn Weinerman
Emily Roebling’s Fierce Voice
What a pleasure to read Emily Anderson’s piece on Brooklyn Bridge builder Emily Roebling in your April issue! Roebling was astonishing, not least because she recognized and spoke out about misogyny. Anderson references the prize-winning essay, A Wife’s Disabilities, which Roebling read at her 1899 graduation from NYU’s Women’s Law Class, a non-degree program attended by rich society women, covered with patronizing contempt by newspaper society pages. One paper wrote about Roebling’s essay under the heading, Tea Table Gossip.
Anderson quotes Emily’s husband John as saying he did not agree with Emily’s essay about how wives were utterly without legal rights. I think your readers might also appreciate language from the essay itself. Emily Roebling was fierce and sarcastic, condemning “the sacred rite of marriage” as conferring upon the married woman “the ranking in legal responsibility with idiots and slaves.” I marvel at her anger and bluntness.
I wrote about NYU’s Women’s Law Class and the amazing, radical Village women who graduated from the law school in the early 20th century in a law review article, Restless Women: The Pioneering Alumnae of New York University Law School. Interested folks can find the piece online—the prose is not legalese, and there’s no paywall.
Phyllis Eckhaus
Get the Dapolito Facts Straight
Reading the article by Tobi Bergman about Dapolito, I wondered has he ever been inside? He states that the indoor pool is in a “dank and dark basement.” The indoor pool is located on the same street level site as the outdoor pool. One must walk through the indoor pool area to get to the outside pool. There is no basement, Tobi.
There are two gyms, side by side, that seem to be regulation size gyms and definitely always suitable for basketball. Plenty big.
Local neighbor
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