HIGH LINE

(b.1942) The King of New York--and 15th-richest man in the world--rules over multiple spheres of inuence: politics, media and philanthropy. The mayor has one year left in his third and supposedly nal term, but no one expects him to disappear after leaving ofce. After a star turn navigating NYC through Hurricane Sandy, a high-prole endorsement of President Obama proved his inuence extends beyond the city's borders. 2012 HIGHLIGHT: Advanced ght on obesity by pushing through ban on oversize sugary soft drinks.
Michael Bloomberg. http://www.forbes.com/prole/m ichael-bloomberg/ Accessed December 10, 2012

(b. 1966) the speaker of the New York City Council, the rst woman and rst openly gay ofcial elected to that position. Her roots were in what are widely considered progressive politics and advocacy on behalf of gay New Yorkers. She was an aide to City Councilman Thomas K. Duane, the rst openly gay member of the City Council and went on to serve as executive director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. Ms. Quinn was elected to the Council in 1999, representing a Manhattan district that includes Chelsea and Greenwich Village. By the time she became speaker in 2006, she had established herself as a frequent ally of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on a number of issues, including supporting the mayor on his ban on smoking in most restaurants and bars. In 2011, Ms. Quinn broke with Mayor Bloomberg over how to close a multibillion-dollar budget gap, proposing $75 million in cuts to the Department of Educations budget to take the place of some of the thousands of teacher layoffs planned by the mayor. The plan marked a shift in Ms. Quinns close relationship with the mayor, for which she has received criticism.
Times Topics: Christine Quin. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/q/christine_c_quinn/i ndex.html Accessed December 10, 2012

(b.1969) After a bruising run for mayor ended in a humiliating loss and a self-imposed retreat from the public stage, Gifford Millerthe former City Council speaker known for his battles with Mayor Michael Bloombergis emerging again to try his hand at another rough-and-tumble industry: real estate development. Mr. Miller is launching his rst project with a longtime friend and other partners. They envision transforming a derelict section of the Bronx with 10 new "affordable" apartment buildings near the Sheridan Expressway. At 41 years old, Mr. Miller is no longer the ambitious preppie wunderkind who led a rebellious City Council against Mr. Bloomberg and seemed poised for political success.
Gifford Millers Next Step. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303661904576454402264062770.html Accessed December 10, 2012

focuses on development nance, the revitalization of urban communities, regional economic development, waterfront redevelopment and asset planning for institutions. Johns core skills include structuring public-private partnerships, development nance, building parklands, and creating innovative development strategies. Johns wide-ranging practice is national and international in scope ranging from New York to Cincinnati, San Antonio to London. His work focuses on large-scale urban transformations, as well as discreet real estate transactions. Since founding the New York ofce of HR&A in 1984, he has led to bold plans that have reshaped important waterfronts, downtown districts and neighborhoods. John has:
Our Team - John H. Alschuler, Jr., Chairman. http://www.hraadvisors.com/team/john-h-alschuler-jr-chairman/ Accessed December 10, 2012

Bruce A. Beal, Jr. is President and a general partner of Related Companies. Mr. Beal joined Related in 1995 and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day development process for projects across all asset classes throughout the country including acquisition, nance and construction activities. In addition, Mr. Beal oversees Relateds existing operating portfolio and the companys affordable housing initiatives. Mr. Beal is a trustee for New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Citizens Budget Commission and St. Bernards School. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Friends of the High Line, the Advisory Board of Harvard Universitys Taubman Center for State and Local Government and REBNYs Executive Committee, Board of Governors and Housing Committee. Mr. Beal graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Our People - Executive Team - Bruce A. Beal, Jr. http://www.related.com/ourcompany/executives/3/Bruce-A-Beal-Jr/

In 1991, Philip Aarons formed Millennium Partners with Christopher Jeffries to develop the $275 million rst-phase of the major West Side development that would become Lincoln Square. The company has completed major mixed-use developments in New York, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco and Miami at a cost in excess of $4 billion. Mr. Aarons began his career as an associate at a major New York City law rm where he concentrated in real estate transactions and nance. In early 1978, he joined the Administration of Edward I. Koch as Assistant to the Mayor. In mid 1979, Mr. Aarons was named President of the NYC Public Development Corporation, a position he held through 1983. Under his leadership, the company grew to become the City's lead development agency, overseeing projects including the South Street Seaport, the Marriott Marquis Hotel, the Joyce Theatre, and the Carnegie Hall Restoration. In late 1983, Mr. Aarons moved from public service and became President of General Atlantic Realty Corporation, the real estate subsidiary of General Atlantic, a privately held investment rm. In partnership with Christopher M. Jeffries, Mr. Aarons was a pioneer in the construction of low-income housing, nanced through its linkage to luxury housing, building over 1,000 units of affordable housing throughout the City. Today, Mr. Aarons is active on the numerous boards. He graduated from Columbia College in 1973, where he majored in art history and the Columbia University School of Law in 1976 where he was an Editor of the Law Review.
About Millenium Partners - Philip E. Aarons. http://millenniumptrs.com/about-mp/ Accessed December 10, 2012

Managing Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Investment Management Division. John joined the Firm in 1983 as a xed income investment banker. In addition to serving on the Board of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, John is on the Board and Chairs the Development Committee for the Friends of the High Line in New York City. He is Co-Chair of his class for the Harvard College Fund and is on the Harvard University Committee on University Resources. John also is on the Board of the Academy of American Poetry where he chairs the Committee on the Board and serves on the Finance Committee. John graduated from Harvard College and from the Harvard Business School.
About - John Blondel. http://www.jackierobinson.org/about/JohnBlondel.php Accessed December 10, 2012

(b. 1960), a Democrat, elected in 2006 and was previously a member of the New York State Assembly. (He is) a likely candidate for mayor, (and) has recruited prominent national Democrats to join his 2013 campaign. Mr. Stringer has been critical of the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. But Mr. Stringer has supported the mayors plan to make the city more environmentally sustainable and had collaborated with him on land use and other issues. In July 2011, Mr. Stringer called for the abolition of the $49 million pot of money the City Council distributes each year to nonprot groups, saying the process for giving out the grants had become overly political. Mr. Stringer, whose ofce conducted a yearlong study of the funds, said the current system had led to vast economic disparities. Mr. Stringer, a native New Yorker, was born and raised in Washington Heights. In 2010 he and his wife, Elyse Buxbaum, refused to get married in New York because the state at that time did not allow gay couples to marry. Instead, they chose to wed in Connecticut where gay marriage had already been legalized. In 1999 Mr. Stringer was arrested during protests against the police killing of Amadou Diallo, and in the 1980s while calling on Exxon to cease doing business in apartheid South Africa. He graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Times Topics: Scott Stringer. http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/scott_m_stringer/index.html Accessed December 10, 2012

Jim is recognized as one of New Yorks premier urban problem-solving strategists. His background combines senior management roles in government, public relations, real estate, and construction management, with extensive public sector experience at senior levels of New York City government. Prior to establishing Capalino+Company he founded The Growth Strategy Group helping senior corporate managers to rene growth strategy, manage change and increase returns and served as COO of AJ Contracting, one of the nations largest minority owned contractors, increasing its revenues from $125 million to $400 million in three years. Jims government career began in 1972 when he joined the staff of Congressman Edward I. Koch. In 1977, he co-managed the mayoral campaign of Congressman Koch when he was elected the 105th Mayor of the City of New York. He was named Commissioner of General Services, a 2,000+ employee, $750 million agency, at the age of 28 (still, the youngest commissioner in City history). Jim managed the Mayors successful third term re-election, which he won by the largest margin in the Citys history. Jim holds an M.A. in Management and Urban Affairs from the New School University, and a B.A. in Political Science, cum laude, from Colgate University. He currently sits on the boards of Safe Space and Friends of the Hudson River Park.
About - Principals - James F. Capalino, Chief Executive Ofcer http://www.capalino.com/james-capalino Accessed December 10, 2012

She and Bill created the Pershing Square Foundation and the William and Karen Ackman Foundation. When they married in 1994, Karen was a landscape architect at the Central Park Conservancy in New York.
The Hottest Hedge Fund Wives On Wall Street http://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-fund-wives-2010-8?op=1

Managing Director, is head of BlackRock's Financial Institutions Group within the Global Client Group. Ms. Dickey oversees the management of the client service and business development team. Specically, she is responsible for delivery of BlackRock service to the rm's insurance and taxable clients. Ms. Dickey also works closely on developing new relationships and products within the insurance industry. In addition, Ms. Dickey is a member of BlackRock's Leadership Committee. Prior to joining BlackRock in 1996, Ms. Dickey spent one year as a municipal bond underwriting analyst with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets. Ms. Dickey's prior experience includes working in the Business Strategy and Development Group of Christie's Fine Art Auctioneers and as a private art dealer. Ms. Dickey sits on the Photography Committee for the Whitney Museum and is an active fundraiser for The High Line development in Lower Manhattan. She earned a BA degree in political science and art history from Pitzer College in 1991, and an MBA degree in nance from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1996.
Kristen Dickey, Managing Director BlackRock http://littlesis.org/person/92427/Kristen_Dickey Accessed December 10, 2012

senior vice president for business development in the New York ofce of Willis Global, a London-based insurance brokerage rm; he specializes in insuring commercial real estate and other risks. He is a trustee from 2008 to 2009 of the Wildlife Conservation Society. He graduated from the University of Georgia.
Weddings/Celebrations - Bill White and Bryan Eure http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/fashion/weddings/bill-white-bryan-eure-weddings.html Accessed December 10, 2012

(Lisa is) an emerging New York arts philanthropist. Her husband, Philip Falcone, is the senior managing director and co-founder of Harbinger Capital Partners Funds and is ranked No. 296 on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires.
Times Topics: Lisa Maria Falcone. http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/f/lisa_maria_falcone/index.html Accessed December 10, 2012

(b. ~1957)served as an Ofcio Member at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Inc. Serves as a Trustee at Central Park Conservancy; Director of The Big Apple Circus, Ltd.; Member of Courts of Dreams Advisory Board at Pinnacle Management Corp.; served Commissioner of New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
1

is a Co-Founder of KPS Capital Partners. The KPS Funds are private equity funds with $2.6 billion of assets under management focused on constructive investing in restructurings, turnarounds, bankruptcies and other special situations. Mr. Keilin previously served on the Board of Directors of Weirton Steel Corporation and numerous KPS Fund I and KPS Fund II Portfolio Companies. Mr. Keilin was also the founding Principal of Keilin & Co. LLC, a leading investment banking rm specializing in providing advisory services in connection with nancial restructuring and bankruptcy transactions. Prior to founding KPS in 1997 and co-founding Keilin & Co. in 1990, Mr. Keilin was a General Partner of Lazard Frres & Co. Mr. Keilin was formerly Chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of New York, an agency created in 1975 to deal with New York City's nancial crisis. He was Chairman of the Citizens Budget Commission from 1999 to 2002. Mr. Keilin graduated from Rice University and Harvard Law School.
Eugene Keilin, Co-founder Emeritus. http://www.kpsfund.com/eugenekeilin.asp Accessed December 10, 2012

Benepe left New York City Dept. of Parks to work at the Trust for Public Land.
2

1. Adrian Benepe. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=28606397&p rivcapId=7940299&previousCapId=4224923&previousTitle=Accenture,%20Inc. Accessed December 10, 2012 2. His Domain Transformed, Parks Chief is Leaving. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/nyregion/adrian-benepe-nycparks-chief-quits-to-join-trust-for-public-land.html?ref=adrianbenepe&_r=0 Accessed December 10, 2012

Actor.

New York Public Library member of the Board since 1993 and Chairman since 2004, has led the Library to record levels of user accessibility, hours of service, and digital expansion, as well as a greatly enhanced presence in communities throughout New York City. Under her watch, ve new libraries were built, including the LEED-certied Bronx Library Center, and a new overarching strategy was announced, including transformation plans for the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building to become the worlds largest research and circulating library. She has overseen a $1.2 billion campaign, now underway, for Creating the Library for the Future, and also led an $18 million post-9/11 emergency campaign. During her tenure as Chairman, the Librarys endowment increased by almost 70 percent.
Catherine Marron Succeeded by Neil L. Rudenstine as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The New York Public Library. http://www.nypl.org/press/press-release/2011/09/14/catherine-marron-succeeded-neil-l-rudenstine-chairman-board-trusteesAccessed December 10, 2012

(b. 1944) Ms. Burden, who spends her leisure time walking the city, boating or birding, argues that good design is good economic development, and I know this is true. She unabashedly calls the administration pro-development, and points to the High Line, which the city says has generated $2 billion in private investment in the area and has created 12,000 jobs. What I have tried to do, and think I have done, she said, is create value for these developers, every single day of my term. ... Ms. Burden argues that gentrication is merely a pejorative term for necessary growth. Improvement of neighborhoods some people call it gentrication provides more jobs, provides housing, much of it affordable, and private investment, which is tax revenue for the city, she said. On her watch, the administration has undertaken nancing 165,000 units of affordable housing by 2014, of which more than 130,000 have been built, and has created projects like Via Verde, the handsome, eco-friendly subsidized development in the South Bronx. We are making so many more areas of the city livable, she said. Now, young people are moving to neighborhoods like Crown Heights that 10 years ago wouldnt have been part of the lexicon.
Amanda Burden Wants to Remake New York. She Has 19 Months Left. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/nyregion/amanda-burdenplanning-commissioner-is-remaking-new-york-city.html?pagewanted=all Accessed December 10, 2012

is the Chief Investment Ofcer and Founder of Ranger Global Advisors, a family ofce focused on opportunistic value-based investing. Previously, Alex was the Co-Managing Member and Chief Investment Ofcer of Arrow Capital Management, LLC, a private investment rm focused on global public equities which annualized at 22.4% over an 8 year period.
Biography - Alex von Furstenberg. http://alexvonfurstenberg.com/biography/ Accessed December 10, 2012

Goldman Sachs managing director and head of Leveraged Finance. He will have responsibility for the bank loan and high yield bond businesses in the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Division and report to David M. Solomon, managing director and head of Credit Product
GOLDMAN SACHS HIRES DONALD R. MULLEN TO HEAD LEVERAGED FINANCE. http://www.goldmansachs.com/media-relations/press-releases/archived/2001/2001-07-11.htmls. Accessed December 10, 2012

is responsible for Millennium Partner's commercial assets. The $2 billion real estate portfolio contains Millennium's ofce, retail, sports club, theater, extended-stay and parking assets throughout the country. Mr. Palumbo is also responsible for Millennium's investments in the luxury tness business, which currently consists of six clubs operating under The Sports Club/LA brand name and managed by Millennium's Boston-based subsidiary, Millennium Partners Sports Club Management.
About Millenium Partners - Mario J. Palumbo, Jr. http://millenniumptrs.com/about-mp/ Accessed December 10, 2012

Manhattan party planner.

A-List Parties: More Taste, Less Flash. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/ fashion/16close.html Accessed December 10, 2012

president of Rubenstein Communications - one of Americas leading strategic communications and media relations companies. Together with his father, Howard Rubenstein, Steven oversees the day-to-day operation of the agency.
Steven Rubenstein. http://www.rubenstein.com/bio_sr .html Accessed December 10, 2012

(b.1971) Beyond working to overhaul the Citys economy, Seths efforts have also included modernizing NYCEDCs property management portfolio; overseeing $2.5 billion in capital investments ranging from basic infrastructure improvements to new parks and streetscapes across the City; and helping to negotiate and structure the Citys involvement in some of the most complex development projects in recent years, including the World Trade Center, Yankee Stadium, and Citield. Under Seth, NYCEDC has further continued its efforts to implement several of the Administrations most ambitious area-wide redevelopment projects, bringing new housing, infrastructure, and job opportunities to underserved neighborhoods throughout the Five Boroughs. Examples of these projects include: creation of the Citys rst LEED-certied neighborhood in Willets Point, Queens; upgrades to the South Bronx Greenway to improve air quality and recreational opportunities in some of the Citys poorest neighborhoods; revitalization of the 27-acre amusement district and surrounding community in Coney Island, Brooklyn; and projects at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and New York Container Terminal in Staten Island to help revive the Citys working waterfront. Additionally, under Seths leadership, the City became the rst municipality in the nation to develop a selection process and make allocations under a federal stimulus program designed to spur employment and encourage development during the recent downturn. An attorney by training, prior to joining NYCEDC, Seth was an associate at the law rm of Cleary Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in the Real Estate practice and a nancial analyst at the Mergers & Acquisitions boutique, James D. Wolfensohn Incorporated. Seth is a graduate of Columbia College, where he majored in Ancient History, and Harvard Law School.
President - Seth W. Pinsky. http://www.nycedc.com/about-nycedc/president Accessed December 10, 2012

Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Ofcer of IAC in February 2005. In his capacity, he is responsible for corporate information technology, global real estate, strategic sourcing and operations, travel, events, facilities and corporate services. Mr. Stewart previously served as IAC's Vice President of Operations from March 2002 and, in the company's formative stages, as the Director of Corporate Communications and Operations, where he began in 1995. IACs real estate portfolio encompasses over 8.5 million square feet in 172 cities, 38 states and 15 countries. This includes IACs new Frank Gehry-designed headquarters in Manhattan, a project Mr. Stewart managed from conception. He also initiated IACs strategic sourcing program in 2003 to aggregate cross-company purchasing and assured best operational practices across all IACs businesses. The program has generated over $100 million in incremental savings to IACs businesses to date.
About IAC - Management - Jason Stewart. http://iac.mediaroom.com/index.php?s =20&item=114 Accessed December 10, 2012

leads the (Ford) foundation's Education, Creativity and Free Expression program. As vice president of one of the foundation's three major programs, he guides worldwide grant making in public education reform, higher education, arts, lm, media, sexuality and reproductive health and religion. He also oversees the foundation's regional programming in West Africa, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, and Middle East and North Africa.
AboutUs - Leadership - Darren Walker. http://www.fordfoundation.org/about -us/leadership/darren-walker Accessed December 10, 2012

(b. 1966) No one has a rsum like Vishaan Chakrabarti, a planner who has darted between the public and private sectors: as a top executive at Related Companies; a director at the New York City Planning Commission; an associate partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; a transportation planner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and, most recently, as the director of Columbia Universitys Center for Urban Real Estate (CURE). In March, Chakrabarti became a partner at SHoP Architects. He will retain his position at Columbia while helping steer the Manhattan rm responsible for such projects as the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn.
Newsmaker: Vishaan Chakrabarti. http://archrecord.construction.com/news/newsmakers/2012/1204-Vishaan-chakrabarti.asp Accessed December 10, 2012

Greenhood + Company helps its Clients succeed in the Digital Age through the application of Best Practices. From top level strategy, to hands-on development, we provide business enabling solutions that drive sales and marketing. We empower Clients to "make the rubber meet the road."
http://www.greenhood.com/ Accessed December 10, 2012

Chairman, Chief Executive Ofcer and a Director of Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Inc. since 1997. Mr. Stillman served as Interim Chief Operating Ofcer of Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Inc. since May 2004. Mr. Stillman found Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Inc. in 1997. He was also the President of Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group Inc. from 1977 to 1997. He developed and founded his rst restaurant, T.G.I. Fridays, in 1965. In 1975, Mr. Stillman sold his interests in the concept and focused on the high-end market, founding Smith & Wollensky in 1977. Mr. Stillman has also served as a Director of Meals on Wheels USA for over 20 years.
http://www.hufngtonpost.com/richard-socarides/

attorney and former White House adviser under President Bill Clinton.
http://www.hufngtonpost.com/richard-socarides/ Accessed December 10, 2012

(b.1945) graduated from Hamilton College in 1967 and Yale School of Drama in 1972, was trained as an arts administrator. He managed the Alwin Nikolai and Murray Louis dance companies in the 1970's and, as a director of a Unesco agency, organized conferences on dance copyright issues and the social welfare of dancers. ... In 1982, he ventured onto a section of abandoned elevated rail line that had once run from the old Washington Market in lower Manhattan to Spuyten Duyvil at the northern end of the island. The line once carried freight cars loaded with produce, meat, fabrics and newsprint to wholesale markets and factories in Harlem and the West Side, but it carried its last train -- three box-cars of frozen turkeys -- in April 1980. Mr. Obletz bought a two-mile section of the line through Chelsea from Conrail for $10. He gured that for about $250,000, he could lease a locomotive and some second-hand parlor cars and carry tourists, commuters and park-and-ride visitors to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which was under construction then. To bring the line back to life, he set up the West Side Rail Line Development Foundation. But the blare of train whistles and the rumbling of locomotives were never heard. After ve years in various courts, ghting the state, the city and property owners along the line who wanted the line demolished, he turned the tracks back to Conrail.
Peter E. Obletz, 50, a Lover of Old Trains, Dies. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/04/nyregion/peter-e-obletz-50-a-lover-of-old-trains-dies.html Accessed December 10, 2012

T h e

High
is an urban structure repurposed from an elevated rail line in Manhattan. The original, streetlevel railway was built in 1847, the same year that Brigham Young & Co. arrived in Utah and Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco. The railway transported dairy and meat along the west side of Manhattan, from the eponymous Meat Packing District to Hells Kitchen where said meat would be prepared, cooked, and subject to other kitchenly operations before feeding the masses of the island.

Line

Contrary to the rails ostensibly nourishing role, the street-level locomotive resulted in enough mortalities to endow 10th Avenue with the monicre Death Avenue, which redundantly coincided with the streets lesser-known name, Amsterdam Avenue remembering the islands European colonizers a n d h a r b i n gers of the infectious diseases that would ultimately decimate the former inhabitants,

the Lenape.

short of a ce f i f t y y e a r ntury later, the ter ror sl The struc at e r, t h e l i n e w ou ended with the e levation o ture wou ld b e ab a ld contin f the rail n d one d. T h ue to stan e m o d e of t r line, which opene d as a we Ju s t d athering, a rusting fl n s p or t i n g f o o d w in 1934. But less ag of surr than ou l d b e c ender to o m e obs olete the highw a y t h e offsprin . New York g of planner
Robert Moses.

New Yorkers have an inconsistent history of destroying prized structures, such as Penn Station, and bemoaning the deconstruction of urban eyesores, such as the High Line. While the inaccessible top terrain was given to wildflowers and seedlings, the underbelly housed barbed-wire parking compounds, the citys pigeon population, and empty lots expecting investors.

BARRIER

14th through 32nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenue, are fully inhabited. Residents include: London Terrace, the once largest apartment building in the world; a halo of churches surround London Terrace; rowhouses border the treelined streets. But beyond the railway the neighborhood is one of industry. And the contrast is not recent.

Between syncopated billboard, the oxidized steel beam penetrated buildings at mid-block, like a tetanus nail in a spasming neighborhood skyline. Its location between avenues rather than above either seems to have been a consideration of the urban caverns that can be created below above-ground tracks. Prior to SoHo galleries migrating to Chelsea for cheaper rent, the rail structure delineated where developers simply lost interest.

The reclamation of west Chelsea by the commercial art world was possible by the superstitious barrier. The magic would be later called upon for invented pricetags that seemed oblivious to the reality that existed just across the street. For the inhabitants of Chelsea the structure was a horizontal social ladderseen but insurmountable.

The structure marked the boundary where the curr ency generated at work and quantified by the square-foota ge of their apartment no longer applied; a barrier wher e the logic of the rest of the islandspace, congesti on, and capitallost to ephemeral trends, prestige, lega cy, or esoteric histories. If entrance into this real m is as freely and easily accessible as a stroll bene ath the rusting belt, so too entrance to each gallery is free of charge. Yet such a short migration warrant s the suspicion of why any distinction should or could exist between these worlds. Superficially, many values are shared:

THE BARRIER HAD TO B

E REMOVED

The picturesque streets and corner parks lined with wrought-iron fences are a clear declaration of aesthetic concern. Superficially, visual arts purport aesthetics. Proximity, no less adjacency, articulated what was already on the minds of pedestrian developers:

There is plenty of literature explaining how the deconstruction of the structure detoured into a governmentally supported pseudo-public space; this essay is not the place for that focus. Instead, the central focus is bodies from which these claims are spoken and the ears through which the speech is heard. This is an analysis and review of the re-iteration and representation of an allegedly bottom-up, grassroots, neighborhood-activist led struggle against blind, bureaucratic governmental looting of a neighborhood treasure. The starting point of this analysis arose from the suspiciously simplistic deviation of the formula that rule the rest of the island. Moreover, there was a doubt that that any city would go about financing such deconstruction without a) a plan b) motivation and c) a goal. Its my conjecture that the High Lines auspicious beginnings found themselves intimately instrumental and akin to the realization of parts b and c, yet with simply deemed an alternative plan.

The first section of the High Line Park opened in 2009. According to Robert Hammond, co-founder of Friends of the High Line, it is estimated to raise about half a billion dollars in tax revenue for the city. This is a conservative estimate and based on a misclassification of the High Line. The High Line is predominantly referred to as a park, and like parks it should attract people, facilitate conviviality, give sanctuary from the oppressions of urbanitysuch as joint-shattering concrete, harsh exposure to the sun and wind, or suffocating tail-pipe exhaust. Conservatively, a park would generate real-estate revenue from people who want to live near the park, on the verge of urban and rural realities. But the High Line shouldnt be called a park; it fails as a park; it functions as a promenade and only by a lack of civic taxonomy does it maintain park classification. New York has no promenades. The Hudson River Greenway, a version of a promenade with nodes of park area, serves as an exercise and bicyclecommuter safezone away from the maniacal taxi-drivers whose last interest in preserving pedestrian life is borne from the possibility of the earning the latters future fares. The Greenway is a sanctuary away from taxis: the bicycle lanes recently introduced on many of the avenues are mostly vacant of decyclists due to constant trespass livery by veering vehicles, parked trucks and pedestrians whose cellular reception is apparently optimal in the street, as opposed to the twenty or so feet of sidewalk paralleling these lanes.

conjures the French Riviera, orange-pink evenings,

moved around, or entered. Promenade

teeing something to be seen, surveyed,

such as beaches or harbors, guaran-

jacent to public areas,

promenades lie ad-

Traditionally,

sea-

scape, and breeze giving cool relief after

a stagnant workday.

For the neighboring nuclear families of Chelsea, the path is a parents wet dream. The tall grass and narrow walkway as well as the slow moving dense foot-traffic work in concert to create an easily supervised bubble for the their child. The child would have to be exceptionally ambitious to penetrate the vegetation, scale the hidden handrails,

and leap to his death. Yet an adult who has not been ambitious enough and now contemplates suicide would be deterred by the possibility that the height may not be sufficient to entail an exacting death and instead result in an exponentially more depressing life of hospital beds.

At lunchtime one finds visitors scrambling for seating that is almost as scarce as tree-given shade. But it isnt simply scarcity that dictates action and location: it is the sheer impossibility of veering, moving off the flowing path that has allocated which way one travels and what one sees,whatispossibletodowiththestarkcontrast between concrete and planted life. The trail turns out to be a rendition of a synthetic nature that harkens Central Park while forgetting any sense of human experience, the sublime or pleasure. And yet the popularity of this structure is testament of the even harsher surroundings.

Rem Koolhaas should be proud: The High Line is authoritative manifestation of a culture of congestion. Finalizing the dream of Raymond Hood, this elevated sidewalk evidences the logistics of a layered city in which the pedestrian traffic is separated above the circulating automobiles. This 2011 redefinition of the utopian ideal ca. 1920 shows the need or desire for greenery and escape from the roving machines of displacement. Following the logic of a culture of congestive, there are on and off times. After work and on the weekends, the High Line becomes the high wait-inline, as the happily mandated crawling pace is exacerbated by the impossibility to pass, due to width restrictions on the path. Backpack-laden tourists find repose from scolds and scoffs toward their foreign walking speeds and excessive attempts to photograph what theyve seen in the guidebooks while interfering with New Yorkers foot racing. New Yorkers adapt to the situation by wearing sandals or bringing their children. What was a tiresome burden on the ground becomes a strategic exercise on the High Line.

Where entrances and exits from Central park have become hubs of commercial activity, the High Line promises an even more focused confluence by guarded precipice. Currently, there are nine points of access along the trail. Unexpectedly, one is more frequently asked how to get on top of the High Line than one is asked how to descend back to New Yorks version of Planet Earth.

psudeo upper-class, the vacationers burdened with foreign funds, has time to stroll amidst this caldron of toil? In the case of the High Line, there is no difference.
We must ask, Who but the aristocracy would fabricate a path for the sublime while the crumbling global economy withholds gratification comparable to Lysistrata foil warring minds?

The promenade is the quintessential gentrification mechanism. Who else but the

Unlike most promenades, the High Line is not on ground level. One hasnt the freedom to dash into the sand or cast a stone into the harbor. This elevated promenade mandates the visitors direction, speed, activity and, by extension, their money. A few sanctioned stands vend to visitors, but a growing infrastructure of formal and informal economies are inevitable if not predicted. Atop, the High Line has its own lemonade stand with books and souvenirs; already at the end of the second section, a makeshift food court, in proper FEMA fashion of makeshift trailers and tents, solicits to the descending tired, thirsty, and hungry wayfarers. If vultures gave off the stench of hydrogenated cooking oil, the simile would be too fitting.

The areas where there is sufficient space to overtake other ambulatory masses reads as the path becoming seating. Backpacks come off and cameras come out. The hikers take out their water bottles; the in-laws adjust their fanny packs; the couples embrace. The tear-less trail takes a break. But not for too long: the lack of shaded areas, re-constitutes the desire and need to keep moving. With the idea of park, in their mind, the visitors are certain that, just beyond the bend up ahead, there will be comfort. The largest continually shaded area, beneath a buildings perpendicular extension on 17th St., lacks sufficient seating on off days. This shadow oasis, part tunnel, part cave, has the vestiges of a few trees just above the architectural canal.

So obvious is the intended ambulatory use that basic human enjoyments like shade or a place to restthings a park might offerare absent here. Everything centers around walking. The movement is want of the horizontal escalators found in airports. The New Jersey-oriented sunbather chairs are in such proximity to the path that shadows of passersby fall up to the bikinied pallid breasts of those at rest. The concrete flooring recalls sidewalks and steps. Funneled down this corridor, basic needs are nearly extorted through the awaiting consumption stands.

At various points throughout the walk, there are locations to stop and look, vista points, similar to those conceived during the great highway expansion of the 1950s, the same extension of R. Moses that first put this conglomeration of iron and steel to rust. The walkway becomes a long the trail, these vistas offer a zen-like view between overlooking streets or the High Line itself. Like the Manifest destiny that sent pioneers on wagon and foot into the west, later automobiled, are again set to foot, this time to venture north east from the cobble-stone streets of the Meat Packing district to Hel ls Kitchen.

The High Line makes an unwitting connection between billboards and English landscape architecture. Hammond explains the idea of the vistas emerged from thinking how the structure once bore billboards. Here rather than framing advertisements, itll frame people and views of the city, the High Line seeks to function like the bucolic designs of the Olmstead Brothers. While the Olmsteads sought to draw attention to natural beautiesthough often artificially arrangedthe High Line frames urban life in the throws of development. Between 18th & 19th streets, orchestra seating rises above a glassframed view of 10th avenue.

Like all frames, this seeks to compartmentalize both a location and a time.

And in contrast to this areas local history, having only 15 years ago been a crime-ridden industrial wasteland, the vista is an aggrandizement of the change that has occurred and continues to occur with the life of the High Line itself.

Each taxi that drives through the aperture ushers in or out national and international tourist monies that stack along this corridor. The vista is as much a mirror of the High Line project as it is i n t o t h e neighborhoods recent present eclipsing its past.

As of 2012, the High Line is currently in an infantile state of being. Two of the three sections are open. It culminates in overlooking where the final section will manifest its destiny: Hudson Yards. At the moment we find the promenade existing in this fantastic formula: Imagined-self + mirror image reflecting in real time across a changing neighborhood. This existence is seen from every vista point along the walk. Again and again the High Line becomes the focal point where visitors can see other visitors visiting and, at the best times, see other visitors seeing other visitors who, in a perfect cycle, might be looking at the first party. And since each visitor is subject to the activities allowed in this quasi-public (but really private) space, each action reifies the purpose and intent of the rail ways renovation.

On Christmas Day, 2011, Mayor Bloomberg announced that for the first time in history New York City had attracted 50 million tourists in one year; in the final week another 2 million were expected.

As a tourist attraction, the High Line promenade leverages the monies of tourists to artificially inflate the cost of the living in the adjacent neighborhoods. The result is a machine whereby the City can avoid the tax-breaks often given to developers or corporations in exchange for the generation of jobs. The High Line acts as a placeholder where the City can increase the value of surrounding properties and concomitant tax revenues based on the expected interest from of non-locals.

This was a seminole point in the projects existence. By investing $150 million into the rennovation, the City is expected to gain nearly three times that. If one sees the reality of the re-purposing of this structure as giving people access to something that already existed, i.e. a walkable alternative to the terranean level sidewalks, it becomes clear that this attraction is really a site of another New York financial tool; one neednt even look at the Board of Directors ties to Goldman Sachs to reach a less-than-grassroots conclusion.

The purpose of the repurposing is clear: once a track for transporting materials is now a track for people to walk. The people have become the commodity.

But does the community need a place to walk? Is walking a path more urgently needed than other things? Of the activities that are allowed here, who enjoys them? And those which are prohibited, who would enjoy those? How might other things or uses come about? By controlling the use of the path for walking, seeing, pausing or sitting, rather than allow the community to dictate its purpose, the City has perfected exporting the desire to use this structure to non-locals who might be satisfied with a singular experience that could be checked off of their Lonely Planet guide.

Financially, is existence is self-justified. But there isnt anything inherently monetarily valuable in the place itself, or even peoples desire to be there. The resulting tax revenue is a function of the City deciding to value the park based on the expectation that others developers, business owners, hotels may try to exploit the surrounding environs in an attempt to capitalize on the tourists and the fabricated imaginary available to them.

And they will.

The final stretch of the High Line is to surround the old rail yards, the largest relic of the locomotive era and the industries it supported; the final destination for the constructed above-land bridge. The rail yards exist behind a blind wall of high-rises that all but amputate the disregarded space from the island. The construction partitions that surround the exposed earth look like billboards prophesying whats to come:

Conceiving of the High Line as a linear mall,

with a publicly accessible transportation corridor at the center,
flanked by a series of retail uses along its length, might appeal
to economic development interests and provide a revenue
quality, its ability to convey its history of transportation use, and
its sense of a place apart from the city as we commonly experience
that is not over-commercialized.

stream to support the public space, but it would compromise

many of the lines most appealing features: its contemplative

it. It would be unappealing to the community, which values open-space
Reclaiming the High Line: a Project of the Design Trust for Public Space with Friends of the High Line. Ivy Hill Corporation, an AOL Time Warner Company. 2002, Design Trust for Public Space, Inc.

Per Se boasts views Hudson Yards will be, of Columbus Circle and Central when completed, one Park; one for one: views of the of the largest urban develHudson River and the opments on Manhattan island. High Line. The wooden wall of advertisements surrounding its territory touts its future: Hudson Yards New Yorks Next Great Neighborhood, by the creators of Time Warner Center. Time Warner Center is the loci of commerce at Columbus Circle; i t s a v e r t i c a l r e n d i t i o n o f 5 t h Av e n u e a n d h o m e o f Pe r S e , t h e o n c e m o s t - e x p e n s i v e restaurant in New York, with a prix fixe tasting menu of $275.

Hudson Yards is where New Yo r k would have implemented its bid for the 2010 summer Olympics. Yet even after losing the bid the investors could not be denied.

Fuck it; this is New York.

But none of this is new. Its old. And none of it is a secret. Its spoken. The dubious element of this park is how it has become a model of purportedly grassroots, community organized improvement efforts that are being exported to other cities; its representation is calcified with each presentation.

With the trail concluding at Hudson Yards, the biodiversity of the plant life installed throughout the promenade will be juxtaposed with the homogeneity of chain luxury brands found around the world. The business suits pouring out of the convention center just across the street from Hudson Yards might find a stroll down the High Line to be the perfect dessert to dining on the company dime. A coworker escapes on holiday to New York with her family accidentally encountering her a colleague whos in town at a convention: business and personal collide; the forced introduction of the spouse and offspring; theres an awkward moment; getting together in the near future is mentioned; then the flow of 50 million other people dislodge the obstruction.