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 eshte nje hekurudhe ajrore e vjeter qe kalon 2.5 km permes Manhattan. Ka qene fillimisht nje linje mallrash qe zbriste 10th Avenue. Qe u be e njohur si "Avenue e vdekjes" sepse pati kaq shume njerez te copetuar nga trenat, saqe hekurudha punesoi nje djale me kale te vraponte perpara trenit, qe u be i njohur si " Cowboy i West Side". Por edhe me kauboj, rreth nje person ne muaj vritej dhe shkelej. Keshtu qe ata e ngriten mbi toke. E ndertuan ne lartesi rreth 9 metra, ne mes te qytetit. Por me shtimin e kamioneve ndershteterore, po perdorej gjithnje e me pak. Dhe, ne 1980, treni kaloi per here te fundit. Ishte nje tren i ngarkuar me gjel deti te ngrire per Thanksgiving, keshtu thone, nga Distrikti Meatpacking. Dhe me pas u abandonua.
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.
Une jetoj ne kete lagje, dhe fillimisht lexova rreth kesaj ne New York Times ne nje artikull qe thoshte se do ta prishnin. Dhe, supozova se dikush po punonte ta ruante ose ta shpetonte ate. dhe une mund ta ndihmoja, por kuptova se asnjeri s'po bente gje. Shkova tek mbledhja e keshillit te komunitetit per here te pare-- s'kisha qene ndonjehere me pare-- dhe u ula prane nje djali me emrin Joshua David, qe shkruan rreth udhetimeve. Dhe, ne fund te mbledhjes, ne kuptuam qe ishim te vetmit njerez te interesuar ne kete projekt; me e shumta e njerezve donin ta prishnin. Keshtu, ne shkembyem kartvizitat, dhe vazhuam te telefonojme njeri-tjetrin dhe vendosem te krijojme kete organizate, Miqte e High Line. Dhe, synimi i pare ishte ta shpetonim nga shkaterrimi, por, me pas ne donim te kuptonin se c'do te benim me te.
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.
Dhe, ajo qe me terhoqi mua, e me shtoi interesin, ishte pamja nga rruga -- me kete strukture celiku, te ndryshkur, kjo relike industriale. Por, kur u ngjita siper, ishte 2 km e mbushur me lule te egra qe kalonte mu ne mes te Manhattan me pamje nga Empire State Building Statuja e Lirise dhe lumi Hudson. Dhe filluam tamam aty, ishte ideja e te gjitheve, le ta kthejme kete ne park, i cili eshte i frymezuar nga ky peizazh i eger.
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.
Ne ate kohe, kishim shume kunder. Kryetari i bashkise Giuliani donte ta prishte. Po kaloj me shpejtesi pjesen e padive gjyqesore dhe pjesmarrjes se gjere te komunitetit. Kur erdhi ne fuqi Kryebashkiaku Bloomberg, ai na mbeshteti, por akoma duhet te trajtonim ceshtjen ekonomike. Kjo ishte pas 11 shtatorit; qyteti po jetonte momente te veshtira. Keshtu, ne komisionuam nje studim paraprak ekonomik per te bere propozimin zyrtar. Dhe doli qe i kishim bere llogarite gabim. Mendonim qe ndertimi do te kushtonte 100 milion dollare. Deri tani ka kushtuar rreth 150 milion. Ceshtja kryesore ishte, qe do te kishte kuptim per qytetin, nga pikpamja ekonomike. Keshtu, ne thame qe, ne nje periudhe 20 vjecare, vlera per bashkine ne termat e rritjes se vleres se prones dhe taxave te rritura do te ishte rreth 250 milion. Kjo ishte mjaft qe ta bindte bashkine. Sic doli, ne ishim gabim. Tani, njerezit vleresojne se ka krijuar rreth gjysem miliard dollare, ose do te krijoje rreth gjysem miliard dollare, ne te ardhura nga taksat per bashkine. Ne beme nje konkurs projektimi, zgjodhem nje grup projektuesish. Punuam me ta per te krijuar nje projekt qe vertet ishte frymezuar nga peisazhi i eger. Jane tre seksione.
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.
Ne hapem seksionin e pare ne 2009. Ka qene shume me i sukseshem nga c'e kishim enderruar. Vitin qe kaloi patem rreth dy milion njerez, qe eshte 10 here ajo qe parashikuam. Kjo eshte nje nga pamjet e preferuara ne seksioni nje. Ky amfiteater tamam mbi 10th Ave. Dhe, seksioni i pare mbaron ne 20th St. Po ashtu, ka krijuar nje vlere te madhe ekonomike; po ashtu ka frymezuar, mendoj, goxha arkitekture. Po te rrish ne kete pike, sheh ndertesa nga Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, Neil Denari. Dhe muzeumi Whitney po largohet nga Qendra dhe po nderton ndertesen e re tamam ne bazen e High Line. Kete e ka projektuar Renzo Piano. Ata do te fillojne punimet ne Maj.
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.
Ne kemi filluar tashme ndertimin ne seksionin dy. Ja nje nga detajet e mia te preferuara, kjo pasarele ne lartesi 2.5 metra mbi siperfaqen e High Line qe kalon permes nje tende pemesh. High Line ka qene e mbushur me tabela reklamash te koheve, keshtu, ne u morem pak me to, ku, ne vend te reklamave, tregohen njerez ne pamje te qytetit. Kete e kemi instaluar muajin qe kaloi. Dhe seksioni i fundit kalon rreth zones se shkembimit te shinave, qe eshte zona me e madhe e pazhvilluar ne Manhattan. Bashkia ka planifikuar -- per mire ose keq-- nje seri ndertimesh prej 3.5 milion metra katror qe do te rrethohet nga High Line.
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.
Por ajo qe mendoj se e ben High Line te vecante jane njerezit. Sinqerisht, edhe pse me pelqejne dizajnet qe po ndertojme, kam pasur gjithnje frike qe a do ta doja me te vertete, sepse u dashurova me ate peisazh te eger -- dhe, si mund ta rikrijosh ate magji? Por, ajo qe zbulova ishte tek njerezit dhe menyra se si e perdorin ata qe, sipas meje, e ben kaq speciale. Nje shembull i shpejte eshte ky, qe vura re kur sapo e inauguruam, qe kishte gjithe keta njerez te kapur per dore ne High Line. Dhe, u kujtova qe Njujorkezet nuk kapen per dore; Ne nuk e bejme kete gje jashte. Por, kur e shikon te ndodhe mbi High Line, mendon per fuqine qe mund te kete hapsira publike per te transformuar menyren se si njerezit e jetojne qytetin e tyre dhe bashkeveprojne me njeri-tjetrin.
Thanks.
Falemnderit.
(Applause)
(Duartrokitje)