This probably isn't a popular opinion and it's rather after-the-fact at this point, but is revitalization of the High Line just sort of a bad idea? With Barry Diller donating $5 million and everyone from Hillary Clinton to Ed Norton behind the idea it seems that there has not been much in the way of skeptical thought applied to the project. Although the financing has been brought together mostly by outside groups, there remains over $30 million in contribution from the city and the ongoing maintenance of the park seems to be in taxpayer hands as well.
The park will be a pretty road to nowhere and although much of the aesthetic idea of a swath of green cutting through developed space is widely appealing, that aesthetic, strongly influenced by the views afforded of the Hudson River will be greatly changed by speculative residential projects rapidly shooting up around the former rail line. What will remain is an unwide sidewalk path down the west side which will be parkland for, well, the wealthy.
Consider the same amount of funding being put into some of the large available spaces on the west side to develop a larger, more user-friendly green space with large fields and play areas. Consider the same amount if put forward to a space more appealing to a wider range of citizens from diverse economic backgrounds, not just the strolling aesthetes.
While many will point to Paris's Promenade Plantee, photos of the Promenade are distinct in one respect: it is always sans pedestrians. To a large degree the park will replicate the stroll afforded by the Hudson River Park, yet one will not be genuinely connected to the other.
It's obviously too late to stop the project from proceeding, but the real benefit of the space will come in ten or more years. Will this be still regarded as an amazing idea or just an outdated folly?