'The Highline' er en gammel, forhøjet jernbane der løber 2,4 km gennem Manhatten. Det var originalt en fragtlinje der løb ned ad 10th Avenue. Det blev kendt som "Døds-Avenue" fordi så mange mennesker blev kørt over af togene at jenbaneselskabet hyrede en fyr til at ride på hest foran toget, og han blev kendt som 'West Side Cowboy'. Men selv med en cowboy, blev en person om måneden kørt over. Så de hævede den. De byggede den 9 meter i luften, durks gennem byen. Ved forøgelsen i interstat lastbil transport, blev den brugt mindre og mindre. I 1980 kørte det sidste tog. Det var et tog med frosne kalkuner -- de siger ved Thanksgiving -- fra købpaknings distriktet. Og så blev den forladt.
The Highline is an old, elevated rail line that runs for a mile and a half right through Manhattan. And it was originally a freight line that ran down 10th Ave. And it became known as "Death Avenue" because so many people were run over by the trains that the railroad hired a guy on horseback to run in front, and he became known as the "West Side Cowboy." But even with a cowboy, about one person a month was killed and run over. So they elevated it. They built it 30 ft. in the air, right through the middle of the city. But with the rise of interstate trucking, it was used less and less. And by 1980, the last train rode. It was a train loaded with frozen turkeys -- they say, at Thanksgiving -- from the meatpacking district. And then it was abandoned.
Jeg bor i området, og jeg læste først om det i New York Times, i en artikel der sagde banen skulle rives ned. Jeg antog nogen var i gang med at bevare eller redde det og jeg kunne hjælpe, men jeg opdagede strakt at ingen gjorde noget. Jeg tog til mit første lokalbestyrelses møde -- jeg havde aldrig været til et før -- og sad ved siden af en fyr kaldet Joshua David, han er en rejseanmelder. Det gik op for os i slutningen af mødet at vi to var de eneste der bare havde en smule interesse i projektet; de fleste ville rive det ned. Vi udvekslede business kort, vi blev ved med at ringe sammen og vi besluttede at starte denne organisation, "Venner af 'High Line' " Til start var målet blot at stoppe nedrivningen, derefter ville vi finde ud af hvad vi kunne gøre med den.
And I live in the neighborhood, and I first read about it in the New York Times, in an article that said it was going to be demolished. And I assumed someone was working to preserve it or save it and I could volunteer, but I realized no one was doing anything. I went to my first community board meeting -- which I'd never been to one before -- and sat next to another guy named Joshua David, who's a travel writer. And at the end of the meeting, we realized we were the only two people that were sort of interested in the project; most people wanted to tear it down. So we exchanged business cards, and we kept calling each other and decided to start this organization, Friends of the High Line. And the goal at first was just saving it from demolition, but then we also wanted to figure out what we could do with it.
Det der først vagte interesse i mig var denne udsigt fra gaden -- den her stål konstruktion, rusten, denne industrielle levn. Da jeg så gik op på den, var det 2,5 km af vilde blomster lige gennem midten af Manhattan med udsigt til Empire State bygningen, og Frihedsgudinden og Hudsonfloden. Det er faktisk der vi startede, idéen udviklede sig og blev til; "lad os lave en park", og lade den inspirere af denne vilde natur.
And what first attracted me, or interested me, was this view from the street -- which is this steel structure, sort of rusty, this industrial relic. But when I went up on top, it was a mile and a half of wildflowers running right through the middle of Manhattan with views of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River. And that's really where we started, the idea coalesced around, let's make this a park, and let's have it be sort of inspired by this wildscape.
Der var meget modstand på dette tidspunkt. Borgmester Giuliani ville rive den ned. Jeg spoler forbi en masse retssager og masser af engagement i området. Borgmester Bloomberg blev valgt og han var meget støttende, men vi skulle stadig have et økonomisk argument. Det var efter 9/11; byen havde det svært. Vi gennemførte en økonomisk gennemførligheds undersøgelse for at få bygget en sag. Det viste sig, vi tog fejl hvad angår tallene. Vi troede det ville koste 100 millioner dollard at bygge. Indtil videre har det kostet 150 millioner. Vores argument var, det giver god økonomisk mening for byen. Vi sagde at over en 20-årig periode, vil værdien af de forøgede ejendoms værdier og forøgede skatter blive til 250 millioner. Det var nok. Det fik byen bag os. Det viste sig vi også tog fejl der. Nu siger folk det har skabt en halv millard dollars, eller det vil skabe en halv milliard dollars. i skattepenge til byen. Vi lavede en design koncurrence, valgte et hold. Vi arbejde med dem for at skabe et design der var inspireret af den vilde natur. Der er tre sektioner.
At the time, there was a lot of opposition. Mayor Giuliani wanted to tear it down. I'm going to fast-forward through a lot of lawsuits and a lot of community engagement. Mayor Bloomberg came in office, he was very supportive, but we still had to make the economic case. This was after 9/11; the city was in tough times. So we commissioned an economic feasibility study to try to make the case. And it turns out, we got those numbers wrong. We thought it would cost 100 million dollars to build. So far it's cost about 150 million. And the main case was, this is going to make good economic sense for the city. So we said over a 20-year time period, the value to the city in increased property values and increased taxes would be about 250 million. That was enough. It really got the city behind it. It turns out we were wrong on that. Now people estimate it's created about a half a billion dollars, or will create about a half a billion dollars, in tax revenues for the city. We did a design competition, selected a design team. We worked with them to really create a design that was inspired by that wildscape. There's three sections.
Vi åbnede den første sektion i 2009. Det har været mere succesfuldt end vi har turde håbe på. Sidste år besøgte ca. 2 millioner mennesker, hvilket er 10 gange så mange som vi havde regnet med. Det er en af mine yndlings funktioner i første sektion. Det er et amfiteater lige over 10. Avenue. Den første sektion ender ved 20th Street lige nu. Det har skabt massere af økonomisk værdi, det er har også inspireret, synes jeg, massere fantastisk arkitektur. Der er et punkt, du kan stå her og se bygningerne af Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Neil Denari. Whitney flytter downtown og bygger deres nye museum ved foden af 'High Line'. Det er blevet designet af Renzo Piano. De starter med byggeriet i Maj.
We opened the fist section in 2009. It's been successful beyond our dreams. Last year we had about two million people, which is about 10 times what we ever estimated. This is one of my favorite features in section one. It's this amphitheater right over 10th Ave. And the first section ends at 20th St. right now. The other thing, it's generated, obviously, a lot of economic value; it's also inspired, I think, a lot of great architecture. There's a point, you can stand here and see buildings by Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Neil Denari. And the Whitney is moving downtown and is building their new museum right at the base of the High Line. And this has been designed by Renzo Piano. And they're going to break ground in May.
Vi er allerede startet på anden sektion. Det er en af mine yndlings funktioner, denne overflyvning hvor du er 2,5 meter over 'High Line's' overflade, igennem træerne trækroner. 'High Line' plejede at være dækket med reklamer, vi valgte at tage en legende tilgang hvor, frem for at indramme reklamer kommer det til at indramme folks udsigt over byen. Rammen blev sat på sidste måned. Den sidste sektion skal gå rundt om jernbaneværftet, hvilket er det største uudviklede sted i Manhattan. Byen har planlagt -- om det er på godt eller ondt -- 1 million kvadratmeter af udvikling som 'High Line' skal gå rundt om.
And we've already started construction on section two. This is one of my favorite features, this flyover where you're eight feet off the surface of the High Line, running through a canopy of trees. The High Line used to be covered in billboards, and so we've taken a playful take where, instead of framing advertisements, it's going to frame people in views of the city. This was just installed last month. And then the last section was going to go around the rail yards, which is the largest undeveloped site in Manhattan. And the city has planned -- for better or for worse -- 12 million square-feet of development that the High Line is going to ring around.
Men hvad der faktisk gør 'High Line' speciel er menneskene. For at være ærlig, selvom jeg elskede de designs vi byggede, var jeg altid bange for om jeg virkeligt ville elske det, fordi jeg forelskede mig i vildskaben -- hvordan kan man genskabe den magi? Jeg fandt ud af det er de mennesker der bruger den der gør stedet specielt, for mig. Et hurtigt eksempel er det gik op for mig da vi åbnede at der gik en helt masse mennesker på 'High Line' hånd i hånd. Det slog mig; New Yorkers holder ikke hånd, det gør vi bare ikke udenfor. Men det ser du på 'High Line', og det er den effekt offentligt rum kan have på folks opfattelse af deres by og deres interaktioner med hinanden.
But what really, I think, makes the High Line special is the people. And honestly, even though I love the designs that we were building, I was always frightened that I wouldn't really love it, because I fell in love with that wildscape -- and how could you recreate that magic? But what I found is it's in the people and how they use it that, to me, makes it so special. Just one quick example is I realized right after we opened that there were all these people holding hands on the High Line. And I realized New Yorkers don't hold hands; we just don't do that outside. But you see that happening on the High Line, and I think that's the power that public space can have to transform how people experience their city and interact with each other.
Tak.
Thanks.
(Bifald)
(Applause)