“I Walk The Line” – The High Line That Is….

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“I Walk The Line” – The High Line That Is….

August 25, 2012 by pbenjay

And actually it was Murray who was walking along the High Line and snapping photos of just what you see as you stroll along. There are two schools of thought when it comes to the High Line; For years this piece of real estate lay fallow, weeds and wildflowers flourished in this vacant narrow strip of land. For sure there is a history of the High Line to be told: In 1847 the City allows street-level railroad tracks on the West Side. Between 1851 and 1921 there were so many deaths due to this train traffic that 10th Avenue was nicknamed Death Avenue. By 1929 after many years of public debate, the City and State of New York and the New York Central Railroad agree on an improvement project which includes the High Line and adds 32 acres of parkland to Riverside Drive and costs over 150 million 1930 dollars – equivalent to about 2 billion today. In 1934 the High Line opens to trains running from 34th Street to St. John’s Terminal on Spring Street. By the 1950’s the growth of interstate trucking leads to a decrease in railway hauling nationally and on the High Line. In the 1960’s the southernmost section of the High Line is demolished. In 1980 the last train ran through the High Line carrying 3 carloads of frozen turkeys. In the mid-19080’s a group of residents who owned land beneath the structure lobbied to have the High Line torn down. In 1999 The Friends of the High Line, a preservation group was formed. From that point on, they worked with various City and State commissions to have the High Line preserved and turned into a public use space. This was the first school of thought; that this unique piece of real estate should be open to the public, preserved to be enjoyed by the masses. It took years to explore all the possibilities, secure permission from various regulatory commissions, to hold design competitions, to get approvals for every aspect of design and construction and on and on through miles and miles of red tape until finally in 2009 a section of park was opened from Gansevoort Street to West 20th. That was then and now in 2012, the High Line has become a major tourist attraction. And that brings us to the other school of thought about what has progress wrought upon us? A few days ago in the New York Times there was an Op-Ed article entitled Disney on the Hudson. Here are the first two paragraphs although from the title itself, I’m sure you know where this is going! “WHEN the first segment of the High Line, the now-famous park built atop an old elevated railway on the West Side of Manhattan, opened in 2009, I experienced a moment of excitement. I had often wondered what it would be like to climb that graffiti-marked trestle with its wild urban meadow. Of course, I’d seen the architectural renderings and knew not to expect a wilderness. Still, the idea was enticing: a public park above the hubbub, a contemplative space where nature softens the city’s abrasiveness. Today it’s difficult to remember that initial feeling. The High Line has become a tourist-clogged catwalk and a catalyst for some of the most rapid gentrification in the city’s history.”Sadly, that’s how I feel about most of what was at one time, a unique place or event in our great City. I really don’t like enormous crowds anywhere and long lines are distressing, not to mention the weariness of dodging slow-moving gawkers. Oh well now I sound like a cranky curmudgeon New Yorker! Anyway here is the link to the entire piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/opinion/in-the-shadows And now that brings us a couple of days ago when Murray took these photos: