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.
高線 是一條年代悠久的高架鐵路軌道, 其路線穿越曼哈頓1.5哩。 這原本是一條用來運載貨物的鐵路, 鐵路路線順沿第十大道。 於是第十大道變成"死亡大道"。 因為很多人被火車輾過, 鐵路局雇用一位職員騎馬跑在火車前面揮旗開道, 他是著名的"西側牛仔"。 但即使有了牛仔, 大約每個月有一個人 因被火車輾過致死。 所以鐵路局決定架高鐵路。 他們在空中30呎高處建造鐵路,穿越市中心。 但也因為跨州運輸量提高, 鐵路使用率逐漸降低。 最後一班火車行駛於1980年。 當時正值感恩節,據說火車上裝載著 來自肉品工業區的冷凍火雞。 之後鐵路就廢棄了。
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.
我就住在附近, 最初在紐約時報看到報導, 文章指出鐵路即將被拆除。 我以為有人正著手計畫 要維護,保存鐵路。 那我就能自告奮勇加入, 但我發現沒有人採取任何行動。 於是我第一次參與社區委員會會議 --我以前從沒有到場過-- 我坐在Joshua David旁邊, 他是位旅遊作家。 到會議快結束的時候, 我們意識到我們是唯一對此企劃感到有興趣的人, 大部分人想要拆除鐵路。 於是我們交換名片, 持續保持聯絡, 且決定要創立這個組織: 高線的朋友。 最初的目標 只是要保存它不被拆除, 但接著我們也想釐清該如何使用它。
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.
剛開始吸引我,或說是讓我感到興趣的, 是從街上觀看的景色-- 鋼鐵結構, 有點生鏽的 工業化的廢墟。 但當我走到鐵軌上, 看到的是一哩半長的野花 遍佈於曼哈頓城中, 還可看到帝國大廈, 自由女神像和哈德遜河。 那才是我們真正的開始。 這想法四處結合成長,讓我們造一座公園, 讓這野生景色激發靈感, 促使公園生成。
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.
同時,也有很多反對聲浪, Giuliani市長要拆除它。 我在此略過一連串訴訟 和社區聚會的細節。 接著Bloomberg市長就任,他給予高度支持, 但我們必須提出預算。 當時正是911事件發生後; 這城市處於艱難時期。 於是我們委外進行一項可行的預算研究, 試著達成計劃。 結果顯示,我們估計錯誤。 當初預估的改造成本為一億美元。 截至目前為止約一億五千萬美元。 而提預算的重點是 這將會帶給這城市良好的經濟影響。 我們預估過了二十年後, 這城市增加的房地產值 和稅收的總值 約為二億五千萬美元。 當時這就足以讓這城市支持此計劃。 結果顯示我們估計錯誤。 現在人們預估這已經創造約五億美元的價值, 或者將創造約五億美元的價值, 這指的是城市稅收部份。 我們舉辦一個設計比賽, 選出一個設計團隊。 我們和此團隊合作, 創造一個由野外景觀激發靈感的設計。 公園總共分成三區。
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.
第一區於2009年對外開放。 結果比我們理想中還成功。 去年參觀人數約兩百萬人, 是我們預估的十倍左右。 這是第一區中我最喜愛的景致之一。 在第十大道正上方的圓形露天劇場。 目前第一區的終點在第20街。 此外,顯然公園創造很多經濟價值; 我想,它也給予很多很棒的建築靈感。 你可以站在站裡, 觀賞Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban, 和Neil Denari設計的建築。 而且惠特尼美國藝術博物館也要遷移到城中, 在高線基地旁蓋新的博物館。 博物館由Renzo Piano設計。 在2011年5月動土開工。
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.
我們也已經開始建造第二區。 這是我最愛的景致之一, 這坐天橋位在高線上方 八呎的空中, 穿梭樹冠層間。 高線過去曾被廣告牌圍繞, 所以我們採用另一個好玩的觀點, 過去用來展示廣告的框架, 將呈現城市中人們的風貌。 上個月才剛完成安裝。 至於最後環繞鐵路場這區, 是曼哈頓裡 最大的未開發區。 這城市規劃了--不論是好是歹-- 將促進發展高線環繞的 一千兩百萬平方米的區域。
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.
但我認為,真的使高線特別的 是人們。 說實話,即使我喜愛我們當時正在建造的設計, 我總是害怕我不會真的喜歡改造後的成果, 因為我早已被原本的野生景觀所吸引-- 你要如何再次創造這種魔力? 但我發現 是人們和人們如何使用它, 對我而言,這就是高線的特別之處。 舉個簡單的例子, 我發現就在開放之後 很多人在高線上牽著手。 而我知道紐約客不牽手的, 我們就是不在外面做這種舉動。 但是你在高線上看到它發生, 我想這就是一種力量, 公共空間可以 改變人們體驗城市的方式, 且和城市互動。
Thanks.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)