Another day in the city, this time hanging out at my favorite NY park; the famous High Line. I've loved this place ever since it opened in 2009, and I've volunteered as a Greeter for two summers now. This was the first time I'd been up there in Winter though.
What is it? It's a small segment of the network of elevated train tracks that used to crisscross lower Manhattan in the last century. It carried it's last load of freight in 1980, and sat vacant and rusting for many years. The Rudy Giuliani administration made plans to tear it down, but a group of neighborhood activists who had the crazy idea that it might be worth something banded together to save it.
With a new mayor in Michael Bloomberg, the activists got a chance to make a case for what could be built on the line, and after an ideas competition (that involved such concepts as a mile long swimming pool) it was decided to build a park along the structure. The design by the well-known architecure firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro was eventually completed for the first third of the structure in 2009, and the second portion in 2011.
The building of the line took a lot of energy, time and money, as the old tracks were contaminated with various metals and toxins. The whole structure was stripped bare with the railroad tracks preserved, then shored up, repainted, filled in, and then most of the tracks were put back in along with walkways, benches, plants and some neat features. The whole park is designed to have some of the same plants and a similar look to the wild plants that grew on the line in it's years of disuse, and who's wild beauty created the first push that got people thinking that the line could be saved.
The city of New York invested a substantial amount, along with private fundraising, and all the money has already been recouped, as real estate prices and property taxes have skyrocketed in the vicinity of the park. In my time on the High Line as a greeter answering questions, I've met people from all over the world, many now engaged in projects similar to and inspired by the High Line, as well as tourists just hanging out. It's one of my favorite places in the city, and a must see spot. In the winter here it's a little bare, but still quite beautiful. In the summer, it's just sublime.
- 0
- 0
- Canon EOS 50D
- 1/33
- f/10.0
- 28mm
- 250
Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.