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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,原本是一條沿著第十大道的貨運路線,因為很多人被火車輾過,所以第十大道有「死亡大道」之稱。鐵路局雇用一位職員騎馬跑在火車前開道,他就是著名的「西區牛仔」。但即使有這位牛仔,每個月還是大約有一個人因被火車輾過致死,所以鐵路局決定建高架鐵路。他們在空中30呎高處建造鐵路,穿越市中心。但隨著州際貨運的興起,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加工區的冷凍火雞,之後鐵路就廢棄了。
我就住在附近,最初在紐約時報看到相關報導,文章指出鐵路即將被拆除,我想有人會著手計畫維護或保留鐵路,那我就能自告奮勇加入。但後來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議,我之前從未到場過。我坐在Joshua David旁邊,他是一位旅遊作家,到了會議結束的時候,我們意識到我們是唯一對此企劃有興趣的人,大部分人希望拆除鐵路,於是我們交換名片,持續保持聯絡,並決定創立這個組織:高線之友。最初的目標只是要保存它不被拆除,但後來我們也想釐清我們可以為此做些什麼。
最初吸引我,或說是讓我感興趣的,是從街上觀看的高線景色,它是像這樣的鋼鐵結構,有點生鏽的工業建築遺跡。但當我走到鐵軌上,看到的是一哩半長的野花,直通曼哈頓市中心,還可看到帝國大廈、自由女神像和哈德遜河,那就是我們真正開始著手的地方。結合這些想法,讓我們將它建造成一座公園,讓我們將它建成受到這些野外景色啟發的公園。
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以下為系統擷取之英文原文
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.
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.
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.
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同時也有很多反對聲浪,Giuliani市長想要拆除它;我在此略過一連串訴訟和社區聚會討論的細節。接著Bloomberg市長就任,他給予高度支持,但我們仍須提出預算。當時正是911事件發生後,紐約處於艱難時期,於是我們委外進行一項經濟可行性研究,試著提出預算。結果顯示我們估計錯誤;當初預估的改建成本為一億美元,截至目前為止,成本約一億五千萬美元。其中主要重點在於,這將會對這個城市產生有益的經濟影響,我們預估二十年後,這個城市增加的房地產和稅收總值約為二億五千萬美元,當時這就足以讓這個城市支持此計劃。結果顯示我們估計錯誤;現在人們預估這已經創造、或將會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,真正創造了一個由這些野外景觀所啟發的設計。高線公園總共分成三區。
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劇場。目前第一區的終點在第20街。此外,顯然高線公園創造了很多經濟價值,我想,它也激發了很多很棒的建築靈感。你可以站在這裡,觀賞Frank Gehry、Jean Nouvel、Shigeru Ban和Neil Denari設計的建築,惠特尼美國藝術博物館也要遷徙到市中心,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。
我們已經開始建造第二區,這是我最喜愛的景致之一。這座天橋位於高線上方八英呎的空中,穿梭在樹冠之間。高線過去曾被廣告牌圍繞,所以我們採取一個有趣的方式,過去用來展示廣告的框架,將用來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,是曼哈頓中最大的未開發區,這城市規劃了-不論是好是壞-高線所環繞的一千兩百萬平方英呎區域的發展。
但我認為真正使高線如此特別的是人們。坦白說,即使我喜愛我們正在建造的設計,我總是害怕我不會真正喜歡改建後的成果,因為我早已被原本的野外景觀所吸引。你如何能再次創造這種魔力?但我發現,對我而言,是人們和人們如何使用它,使得高線如此與眾不同。再舉個簡單的例子,我發現高線開放之後,很多人在上面牽著手,我知道紐約客是不會手牽手的,我們就是不會在外頭這麼做,但你可以在高線上看到這種情景。我想這就是一種力量,公共空間可以改變人們體驗城市及與彼此互動的方式。
謝謝。
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Thanks.