Lofty Hopes For The High Line

Abandoned and elevated railroad tracks stretch 1.5 miles from Gansevoort Street to West 34th Street on the west side of Manhattan. Where some looked and saw only urban decay and neglect, others, like the Friends of the High Line, envisioned a park in the sky. What beauty can come from empty train tracks, you say? Well, the High Line park will include lawns, a forest-like canopy of trees, wildflowers, a metal catwalk to permit strolls above and beneath trees and an open-air viewing frame enabling pedestrians on the sidewalk below to see New York’s newest “green” project above. An unique floating oasis in a city of steel and stone. Later this year, the first part of their $170 million dream becomes reality. The balance of the park will be completed in 2009. Judging from the architect’s drawings, this will be a unique and welcome improvement to the neighborhoods beneath it.

West Side Waste Plant Plan Passed

Mayor Bloomberg finally got state approval to build an $80 million trash-transfer facility near Gansevoort Street on the Hudson River in Manhattan. Construction is slated to begin in 2010. The station will process 128,000 tons of metal, paper, plastic and glass for shipment to the recycling plant in Red Hook, Brooklyn. This is the final piece to Bloomberg’s overhaul of New York City’s Solid Waste Management Plan. Mayor Rudy Giuliani initiated the city’s trash mess when he closed the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island. To his credit, Mayor Bloomberg has intelligently dug us out of the garbage around us. City residents can all breathe a bit easier once again.