From A Walk in the Park (a new blog about parks):Another hard-hitting expose of Parks by the Post's Rich Calder; this time the High Line is in the spotlight. The article looks into the cost per acre to maintain the brand new $172 million promenade complete with extremely high compensated salaries of employees. The piece also publishes an amount of Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) at the High Line and for the first time accurately compares it to the number of PEP available in the Bronx and Queens. The disparity is enormous. No wonder why Bloomberg supports this.
7 comments:
It only goes to prove the real power of "gay power".
Bless those crafty souls. We could all learn a lot from their brand of community activism and learn to court some high end political bedfellows.
Those upscale Chelsea/Village artsy/fartsies with oodles of money pushed for the high line fiasco because it snaked through their artsy district.
How picturesque.
Good...now let them bend over and pay for it out of their earnings!
Keep your agile little hands out of us taxpayers' pockets for the skyrocketing maintenance and security costs!
The High Line has always been the biggest scam out there. Thanks Christine Quinn- this is up there with your slush funds.
The High Line was nothing more than a "meat truck" back in the day. Hauling dead animals to the meat market. "Marketing" dressed it as the equivalent to Ellis Island. WTF!
I don't know about "gay power" - this was fueled by "developers" that wanted a way to market their planned Luxury Condos with a "You won't have to deal with the neighborhood either" ad.
My understanding is, it was headed by former Bronx Borough President, turned Big Developer, Herman Badillo's company. Google some other big ticket scam projects of this guy. Yeah no inside stuff going on there.
It's always been a scam to get tons of public money to provide a promenade for wealthy tenants. While they did raise private funds for this ridiculous project, the City kicked in at least $80 million (probably more). Of course Bloomberg loves it too. Utterly useless. A funnel for tax money, and scam for developers, politicians, and the wealthy.
It should have been made into a monorail to provide 10th avenue transit that could have connected to Penn Station, the Javitts Center, and Port Authority. Clean, Green, cool, and useful at a fraction of the cost and time to construct. Can't have that.
November is coming!
Might end up a monorail line yet.
But the thing that gets me is how the rich always gets the rest of us to subsidize them (like with landmark designation) while they do shit for public education to get the rest of us up to speed.
They got tons of money. We should be taxing them for our benefit.
Maybe, oh doormat New Yorkers, SOMEONE in a city of 8 million can ask them about this.
It WOULD have made a good western extension of the Flushing Line. But when CSX sold NYC the structure, one of the stipulations was that it not be used for rail of any sort.
So, we have a park for richies, which is better than a sharp stick in the eye.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Notice no kids in the picture. Just a place for the ages 30 plus artsy types to drink their Starbucks coffee and look at everyones asses as they pass by.
Quinn is behind all this and she received contribution in return from High Line Board Members. We need her out! please help Yetta Kurland win, donate time and money. it is the only way to save NYC
As someone involved in the design of this beast, I can tell you where the blame truly lays.
Friends of the High Line let the design get carried away, and very soon it was design-by-committee.
There was no real leadership on this project from the standpoint of the design.
I would not be surprised if the maintenance costs currently quoted do not balloon further in the future after wear-and-tear on the park becomes a reality.
Oh, and it's cold as hell up there in the Winter! No one knows this because the park did not open until this Spring... but it's a g-damn wind tunnel up there in November!
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