Spur, High Line’s last part, completes vision
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
A view of where the Spur extends over 10th Ave., with the U.S. Postal
Service building that the Spur used to service in the background.
one who’s here today,” he said, “we’re
able to stand here and celebrate this incredibly
special and important day.”
Johnson said he was in awe of Simone
Leigh, and being “in front of
this incredibly important piece of art,
which is about black beauty and black
female beauty, and is so important for
our city.”
Brewer said she wanted to add a
thank you to Peter Obletz, who was a
local champion of the High Line going
back to the 1980s. She recalled being
with him at the High Line in 1984, and
called him a gadfl y during the years
when she was working for Councilmember
Ruth Messinger.
“He bugged the living daylights out
of us about this friggin’ railroad thing,”
Brewer said. “He never stopped calling,
but look at the result.”
Obletz died in 1996 and didn’t get
to see the High Line become a park.
Brewer said that, in addition to thanking
Hammond and David and others involved
in advocating for the High Line,
Obletz deserved appreciation.
“I want to make sure that Peter gets
his recognition,” she said, “may he rest
in peace, because he was a true visionary.
“Green space is really precious on
our island,” Brewer added, “and so
we’re so happy to see this last section
of the High Line, this amazing Spur,
extend the green streak in this amazing
urban landscape.”
According to the park, the Spur’s
plant life includes 8,500 perennials, 69
trees and shrubs, and the largest planting
beds on the High Line.
BY GABE HERMAN
The High Line’s newest section, the Spur, opened to the public on Wed., June 5. It runs east from W.
30th St. from the main High Line, and ends with an open plaza above Tenth Ave.
The plaza includes the Plinth, an art space that will feature a
anniversary of the elevated park’s opening.
“But to me,” he said, “it’s really about
looking forward because our work is
just beginning.”
Speaker Johnson thanked the two
Friends cofounders for their work on
the park, including behind-the-scenes
work on programs that he said don’t
necessarily attract many headlines.
Those include teen programs, programs
for several local schools, and a horticulture
program for young people.
“Even though the High Line has become
an international symbol of what is
possible, the High Line has never strayed
from its roots of being integrated in the
local community,” Johnson said.
He also noted that it was unknown
for a time if the Spur would be saved.
“Because of everyfrom
different work every 18 months. The fi rst work is “Brick
House,” a 16-foot-tall bronze bust of a
black woman by artist Simone Leigh.
The entire Spur was originally an offshoot
2002 to 2005, and who David
and Hammond said played an important
role in bringing the High Line back
to life in its new incarnation.
David and Hammond even thanked
former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for being
an adversary of the High Line and thus
galvanizing park supporters to fi ght for
it.
“Someone you just love to hate,”
Hammond said of Giuliani.
David said of all the park’s supporters,
“I’m deeply grateful to all of you
for what you’ve each done to make the
High Line possible, and for some 20
years now being such good friends to
Robbie and to me.”
“Less than 10 years ago, I thought we
might lose this piece that we’re standing
on,” Hammond said of the Spur. He
noted this year is the 20th anniversary
of the founding of Friends of the High
Line and the 10th
from the High Line for trains to
enter the U.S. Postal Service building
at Tenth Ave., which is still in use. The
tracks are visible along the new path,
part of which runs underneath the
tower at 10 Hudson Yards.
The Spur is the fi nal section of the
High Line to be turned into park space,
though it took a “Save the Spur” campaign
in 2008, organized by Friends
of the High Line, to ensure the section
survived.
The Spur was built in the 1930s and
connected freight trains to the Postal
Service’s Morgan Processing Center.
Trains stopped running on the tracks
by the 1980s.
Even after efforts to preserve the
High Line began in 1999, the Spur
was still under threat. It wasn’t until
2012 that the city acquired the part of
the High Line that skirts the West Side
Yard rail yards and said that this section
would be safe from destruction.
At a June 4 opening ceremony for
the Spur, Joshua David and Robert
Hammond, co-founders of Friends of
the High Line, thanked the many local
offi cials and activists going back 20
years for helping to make the Spur, and
the High Line over all, a reality.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson
and Manhattan Borough President
Gale Brewer, both in attendance, were
thanked, along with Mayor Bill de Blasio,
former Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
local community boards and artist Simone
Leigh.
A special thanks was given to Gifford
Miller, who was City Council
speaker
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
A projecting nook off of the Spur is a cool spot to hang out.
8 Month xx, 2019 CNW Schneps Media