Fresh off of today’s public opening of the High Line Park, advocates for the project are turning their attention to saving one last unprotected section of the old rail trestle that snakes around the edge of the West Side rail yards.
Friends of the High Line want this section, running about a half-mile along 30th Street — from 10th to 12th Avenue, then turning north to 33rd Street, along the edges of the rail yards and a block from the Javits Convention Center — to be set aside as park space.
“It would be fantastic,” Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
The Related Companies has been chosen by the MTA to develop a combination of office and residential towers, along with parks, a school and a cultural facility, on a platform over the 26-acre rail yards.
While Related officials have said they would include the High Line in their development plan, Friends of the High Line want the city to officially set it aside for preservation as part of a city rezoning for the site that is now under review.
“It’s great that the High Line is in their plans, but there is no regulatory guarantee,” said Peter Mullan of Friends of the High Line. “We feel that now is the time for that process to go forward along with the new zoning.”
A forum on Related Companies’ plans is to be held tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. in the Fulton Center Auditorium, at 119 Ninth Ave.