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.
Highline je stara, povišena željeznička pruga koja se proteže 2,5 kilometra kroz Manhattan. I to je izvorno bila linija za prijevoz tereta koja je išla niz 10. aveniju. I postala je poznata kao "Avenija smrti" jer je toliko mnogo ljudi vlak pregazio da je željeznica unajmila čovjeka na konju koji je trčao ispred i postao je poznat kao "Kauboj sa zapadne strane". Ali čak i s kaubojem, otprilike jedna osoba mjesečno je ubijena i pregažena. Stoga su je povisili. Sagradili su je na 9 metara visine, i išla je kroz središte grada. Ali s porastom međudržavnog kamionskog prijevoza sve se manje i manje koristila. I do 1980. zadnji vlak je prošao njome. To je bio vlak pun smrznutih purica -- kažu kako je to bilo za Dan zahvalnosti -- koji je dolazio iz smjera kvarta gdje su pakirali meso. I zatim je napuštena.
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.
A ja živim u susjedstvu i prvi put sam čitao o tome u New York Timesu, u članku u kojem je pisalo kako će biti uništena. I pretpostavljao sam kako netko radi na tome da je se očuva ili zaštiti i ja ću moći volontirati, ali shvatio sam kako nitko ne radi ništa. Otišao sam na svoj prvi sastanak odbora zajednice -- na kojemu nikada prije nisam bio -- i sjeo sam pored jednog čovjeka zvanog Joshua David, koji je putopisac. I na kraju sastanka, shvatili smo kako smo samo nas dvoje zainteresirani za taj projekt; većina ljudi je htjela to srušiti. Stoga smo razmijenili vizitke i nastavili se zvati i odlučili osnovati tu organizaciju, Prijatelji High Linea. I cilj je na početku bio samo spašavanje od uništenja, ali zatim smo shvatili kako možemo nešto i učiniti s time.
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.
A ono što me prvo privuklo, ili zainteresiralo, je bio taj pogled s ulice -- bila je to ta čelična struktura, nekako zahrđala, ta industrijska relikvija. Ali kada sam došao gore, to je bilo 2,5 kilometra divljeg cvijeća koje se protezalo kroz središte Manhattana s pogledima na Empire State Building i na Kip slobode i na rijeku Hudson. I otuda smo zapravo počeli, ideja nam je sjela i rekli smo kako bismo mogli pretvoriti to u park i neka bude nekako inspiriran ovim divljim krajolikom.
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.
U to vrijeme, bilo je puno protivljenja. Gradonačelnik Giuliani je želio to uništiti. Brzo ću premotati naprijed preko hrpe sudskih tužbi i mnogo uključivanja zajednice. Gradonačelnik Bloomberg je došao u ured i on je pružao veliku podršku, ali još uvijek smo to morali ekonomski opravdati. To je bilo nakon 9/11; to su bila teška vremena za grad Stoga smo platili studiju ekonomske izvedivosti kako bismo potvrdili naš slučaj. I kako se ispostavilo, dobili smo pogrešne brojeve. Mislili smo kako će izgradnja doći 100 milijuna dolara. Do sada, trošak se popeo na 150 milijuna. A glavni slučaj je bio, kako će to imati veliki ekonomski smisao za grad. Stoga smo rekli kako će u 20-godišnjem periodu, vrijednost za grad u povećanim vrijednostima zemljišta i povećanim porezima biti oko 250 milijuna dolara. To je bilo dovoljno. To je dovelo do toga da nas grad podrži. Ispostavilo se kako smo i tu pogriješili. Sada su ljudi procjenjivali kako je to stvorilo gradu pola milijarde dolara, ili će stvoriti oko pola milijarde dolara u poreznim prihodima. Napravili smo natjecanje za dizajnere, odabrali dizajnerski tim. Radili smo s njima kako bi stvarno stvorili dizajn koji je inspiriran tim divljim krajolikom. Postoje tri sekcije.
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.
Otvorili smo prvu sekciju 2009. godine. Nismo ni mogli zamisliti koliko će biti uspješna. Prošle godine nas je posjetilo dva milijuna ljudi, što je oko 10 puta više nego smo procjenjivali. Ovo je jedna od mojih najdražih odlika u sekciji jedan. To je ovaj amfiteatar preko 10. avenije. A prva sekcija sada završava na 20. ulici. Druga stvar, generirao je, očito, mnogo ekonomske vrijednosti; inspirirao je, mislim, puno odlične arhitekture. Ovdje je mjesto, možete stajati ovdje i vidjeti zgrade Franka Gehrya, Jeana Nouvela, Shigeru Bana, Neila Denarija. A Whitney se seli u središte grada i grade svoj novi muzej odmah do podnožja High Linea. A ovo je dizajnirao Renzo Piano. I probiti će temelje u svibnju.
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.
I već smo počeli gradnju na sekciji broj dva. Ovo je jedna od mojih najdražih značajki, ovaj mostić gdje ste 2,5 metra iznad površine High Linea, i trčite kroz kupolu drveća. High Line su nekada pokrivali veliki plakati i stoga smo se htjeli poigrati i tako, umjesto uramljivanja oglašivačkih poruka, uramljivati će ljude u pogledima na grad. Ovo je ugrađeno prošli mjesec. A zatim će zadnja sekcija ići okolo željezničkih polja, što je najveće nerazvijeno zemljište na Manhattanu. A grad je planirao -- u dobru i u zlu -- 12 milijuna četvornih stopa razvoja koje će High Line okruživati.
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.
Ali ono što doista, mislim, čini High Line posebnom su ljudi. I iskreno, čak iako volim dizajne koje gradimo, uvijek sam se bojao kako ih neću stvarno voljeti, jer sam se zaljubio u taj divlji krajolik -- a kako možete ponovno stvoriti tu čaroliju? Ali ono što sam otkrio je kako su ljudi i kako ga oni koriste to, za mene, što ga čini posebnim. Samo jedan kratak primjer je kako sam shvatio odmah nakon što smo otvorili i tamo su bili svi ti ljudi na High Line koji su se držali za ruke. I shvatio sam kako se New Yorčani ne drže za ruke; jednostavno to ne činimo vani. Ali vidite kako se to događa na High Line i mislim kako je to moć koju javni prostor može imati kako bi preobrazio način na koji ljudi doživljavaju svoj grad i komuniciraju jedni s drugima.
Thanks.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)