'Exonerated 5' To Be Honored With Central Park Entrance In Harlem

HARLEM, NY — An entrance gate on the Harlem side of Central Park is set to be renamed in honor of the "Exonerated Five," the culmination of a yearslong community campaign to recognize the men wrongly convicted of a heinous crime decades ago.

The entrance near the park's northeast corner, on 110th Street near Fifth Avenue, will soon bear a sign reading "Gate of the Exonerated."

The city's Public Design Commission unanimously approved the proposal in a vote on Monday, more than three years after Harlem residents first floated the idea of honoring the men formerly known as the "Central Park Five."

Those five Black and Latino men — teenagers at the time of the rape of a jogger for which they were wrongly imprisoned — all lived in Harlem and had entered Central Park near its northern edge that night in April 1989. Most lived in Schomburg Plaza, the apartment complex that sits steps from the soon-to-be-renamed entrance.

Since their 2002 exoneration and 2014 settlement with the city, some in Harlem have pushed for a public recognition of the injustice. Then, in 2019, when the Central Park Conservancy visited Community Board 10 to present plans for reconstructing the park's north end, board member Shanelle Washington asked whether the work could incorporate a mention of the Exonerated Five.

The board began pushing for a monument devoted to the men, eventually winning support from all of Manhattan's 11 community boards and then-Borough President Gale Brewer. By last year, the plan morphed from a monument into a park gate, which will resemble other sandstone markers like "Merchants' Gate" and "Women's Gate" that have long adorned entrances to Central Park.

"It was such a long journey to get to where we are," Karen Horry, a CB10 member who helped lead the effort, told Patch on Monday. "The community’s voice has been heard."

An unveiling ceremony will be held on Dec. 19, and the Conservancy has already chiseled out the soon-to-be-installed sign, according to the New York Times, which first reported on Monday's vote.

Among those who testified in support of the new gate on Monday was Yusef Salaam, a member of the Five. Like many speakers, he said the gate would also stand in for others who have been unfairly prosecuted.

"There are so many people that have been exonerated and they need to be recognized," Salaam told the commission.

Lane Addonizio, a Conservancy executive who presented the project to the commission, noted that breathless tabloid coverage of the 1989 attack not only harmed the men themselves, but "also stigmatized Harlem residents."

The gate's chosen location is also meaningful for its proximity to Central Park institutions beloved by Harlemites, like the East 110th Street Playground and the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center on the shore of the Harlem Meer.

One dissenting voice came from Todd Fine, an advocate for public monuments, who argued that the city had watered down CB10's initial plan to erect a monument to the men themselves. (The board was told that park statues cannot honor living people.)

"There was a bureaucratic maneuver here to de-emphasize this, to make it something less substantial, less tangible," Fine said during Monday's commission meeting.

Trisha Meili, who later identified herself as the jogger, was not involved with the planning of the gate.

A sign to be installed near the new gate will explain its historical significance and contain a QR code that links to a Conservancy webpage with more information, Addonizio said. Events and educational programming are also being planned to coincide with the unveiling.

Salaam and fellow defendants Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson and Raymond Santana all served between six to seven years in prison; Korey Wise served 12 years. They were exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence implicated another man, Matias Reyes, who confessed to attacking Meili.

In July, Manhattan prosecutors moved to vacate the conviction of a largely forgotten sixth defendant: Steven Lopez, who was convicted of robbing a male jogger that night and had been accused of participating in the rape as well. Prosecutors have since determined that his confession, like those of the other men, was obtained by unfair policing tactics.

"Today’s unanimous vote is the capstone of years of work with the Harlem community, Manhattan Community Board 10, and NYC Parks to commemorate the Exonerated Five and all those wrongfully convicted of crimes," a Central Park Conservancy spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.

"The Central Park Conservancy has worked alongside the Harlem community for more than 40 years, and we are proud to have helped the Gate of the Exonerated come to life in a way that emphasizes how Central Park is meant to be a place for everyone."

Related coverage:

• 'Exonerated Five' Exhibit Gets Harlem Community Board Backing
• 'Central Park 5' Exhibit Proposed For Permanent Place In The Park
• 6th Teen In 'Central Park 5' Case To Be Exonerated, D.A. Bragg Says
• Harlem Meer, Lasker Rink Revamp Set To Start In Central Park