Robert Hammond: Building a park in the sky

Translator: Helena Bedalli Reviewer: Liridon Shala

The Highline

Highline

is an old, elevated rail line

eshte nje hekurudhe ajrore e vjeter

that runs for a mile and a half right through Manhattan.

qe kalon 2.5 km permes Manhattan.

And it was originally a freight line

Ka qene fillimisht nje linje mallrash

that ran down 10th Ave.

qe zbriste 10th Avenue.

And it became known as "Death Avenue"

Qe u be e njohur si "Avenue e vdekjes"

because so many people were run over by the trains

sepse pati kaq shume njerez te copetuar nga trenat,

that the railroad hired a guy on horseback to run in front,

saqe hekurudha punesoi nje djale me kale te vraponte perpara trenit,

and he became known as the "West Side Cowboy."

qe u be i njohur si " Cowboy i West Side".

But even with a cowboy,

Por edhe me kauboj,

about one person a month

rreth nje person ne muaj

was killed and run over.

vritej dhe shkelej.

So they elevated it.

Keshtu qe ata e ngriten mbi toke.

They built it 30 ft. in the air, right through the middle of the city.

E ndertuan ne lartesi rreth 9 metra, ne mes te qytetit.

But with the rise of interstate trucking,

Por me shtimin e kamioneve ndershteterore,

it was used less and less.

po perdorej gjithnje e me pak.

And by 1980, the last train rode.

Dhe, ne 1980, treni kaloi per here te fundit.

It was a train loaded with frozen turkeys -- they say, at Thanksgiving --

Ishte nje tren i ngarkuar me gjel deti te ngrire per Thanksgiving, keshtu thone,

from the meatpacking district.

nga Distrikti Meatpacking.

And then it was abandoned.

Dhe me pas u abandonua.

And I live in the neighborhood,

Une jetoj ne kete lagje,

and I first read about it in the New York Times,

dhe fillimisht lexova rreth kesaj ne New York Times

in an article that said it was going to be demolished.

ne nje artikull qe thoshte se do ta prishnin.

And I assumed someone was working

Dhe, supozova se dikush po punonte

to preserve it or save it

ta ruante ose ta shpetonte ate.

and I could volunteer,

dhe une mund ta ndihmoja,

but I realized no one was doing anything.

por kuptova se asnjeri s'po bente gje.

I went to my first community board meeting --

Shkova tek mbledhja e keshillit te komunitetit per here te pare--

which I'd never been to one before --

s'kisha qene ndonjehere me pare--

and sat next to another guy named Joshua David,

dhe u ula prane nje djali me emrin Joshua David,

who's a travel writer.

qe shkruan rreth udhetimeve.

And at the end of the meeting, we realized

Dhe, ne fund te mbledhjes, ne kuptuam

we were the only two people that were sort of interested in the project;

qe ishim te vetmit njerez te interesuar ne kete projekt;

most people wanted to tear it down.

me e shumta e njerezve donin ta prishnin.

So we exchanged business cards,

Keshtu, ne shkembyem kartvizitat,

and we kept calling each other

dhe vazhuam te telefonojme njeri-tjetrin

and decided to start this organization,

dhe vendosem te krijojme kete organizate,

Friends of the High Line.

Miqte e High Line.

And the goal at first

Dhe, synimi i pare

was just saving it from demolition,

ishte ta shpetonim nga shkaterrimi,

but then we also wanted to figure out what we could do with it.

por, me pas ne donim te kuptonin se c'do te benim me te.

And what first attracted me, or interested me,

Dhe, ajo qe me terhoqi mua, e me shtoi interesin,

was this view from the street --

ishte pamja nga rruga --

which is this steel structure,

me kete strukture celiku,

sort of rusty,

te ndryshkur,

this industrial relic.

kjo relike industriale.

But when I went up on top,

Por, kur u ngjita siper,

it was a mile and a half of wildflowers

ishte 2 km e mbushur me lule te egra

running right through the middle of Manhattan

qe kalonte mu ne mes te Manhattan

with views of the Empire State Building

me pamje nga Empire State Building

and the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.

Statuja e Lirise dhe lumi Hudson.

And that's really where we started,

Dhe filluam tamam aty,

the idea coalesced around, let's make this a park,

ishte ideja e te gjitheve, le ta kthejme kete ne park,

and let's have it be sort of inspired

i cili eshte i frymezuar

by this wildscape.

nga ky peizazh i eger.

At the time, there was a lot of opposition.

Ne ate kohe, kishim shume kunder.

Mayor Giuliani wanted to tear it down.

Kryetari i bashkise Giuliani donte ta prishte.

I'm going to fast-forward through a lot of lawsuits

Po kaloj me shpejtesi pjesen e padive gjyqesore

and a lot of community engagement.

dhe pjesmarrjes se gjere te komunitetit.

Mayor Bloomberg came in office, he was very supportive,

Kur erdhi ne fuqi Kryebashkiaku Bloomberg, ai na mbeshteti,

but we still had to make the economic case.

por akoma duhet te trajtonim ceshtjen ekonomike.

This was after 9/11;

Kjo ishte pas 11 shtatorit;

the city was in tough times.

qyteti po jetonte momente te veshtira.

So we commissioned an economic feasibility study

Keshtu, ne komisionuam nje studim paraprak ekonomik

to try to make the case.

per te bere propozimin zyrtar.

And it turns out, we got those numbers wrong.

Dhe doli qe i kishim bere llogarite gabim.

We thought it would cost 100 million dollars to build.

Mendonim qe ndertimi do te kushtonte 100 milion dollare.

So far it's cost about 150 million.

Deri tani ka kushtuar rreth 150 milion.

And the main case was,

Ceshtja kryesore ishte,

this is going to make good economic sense for the city.

qe do te kishte kuptim per qytetin, nga pikpamja ekonomike.

So we said over a 20-year time period,

Keshtu, ne thame qe, ne nje periudhe 20 vjecare,

the value to the city in increased property values

vlera per bashkine ne termat e rritjes se vleres se prones

and increased taxes

dhe taxave te rritura

would be about 250 million.

do te ishte rreth 250 milion.

That was enough. It really got the city behind it.

Kjo ishte mjaft qe ta bindte bashkine.

It turns out we were wrong on that.

Sic doli, ne ishim gabim.

Now people estimate it's created about a half a billion dollars,

Tani, njerezit vleresojne se ka krijuar rreth gjysem miliard dollare,

or will create about a half a billion dollars,

ose do te krijoje rreth gjysem miliard dollare,

in tax revenues for the city.

ne te ardhura nga taksat per bashkine.

We did a design competition,

Ne beme nje konkurs projektimi,

selected a design team.

zgjodhem nje grup projektuesish.

We worked with them to really create a design

Punuam me ta per te krijuar nje projekt qe vertet

that was inspired by that wildscape.

ishte frymezuar nga peisazhi i eger.

There's three sections.

Jane tre seksione.

We opened the fist section in 2009.

Ne hapem seksionin e pare ne 2009.

It's been successful beyond our dreams.

Ka qene shume me i sukseshem nga c'e kishim enderruar.

Last year we had about two million people,

Vitin qe kaloi patem rreth dy milion njerez,

which is about 10 times what we ever estimated.

qe eshte 10 here ajo qe parashikuam.

This is one of my favorite features in section one.

Kjo eshte nje nga pamjet e preferuara ne seksioni nje.

It's this amphitheater right over 10th Ave.

Ky amfiteater tamam mbi 10th Ave.

And the first section ends at 20th St. right now.

Dhe, seksioni i pare mbaron ne 20th St.

The other thing, it's generated, obviously, a lot of economic value;

Po ashtu, ka krijuar nje vlere te madhe ekonomike;

it's also inspired, I think, a lot of great architecture.

po ashtu ka frymezuar, mendoj, goxha arkitekture.

There's a point, you can stand here

Po te rrish ne kete pike,

and see buildings by Frank Gehry,

sheh ndertesa nga Frank Gehry,

Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban,

Jean Nouvel, Shigeru Ban,

Neil Denari.

Neil Denari.

And the Whitney is moving downtown

Dhe muzeumi Whitney po largohet nga Qendra

and is building their new museum right at the base of the High Line.

dhe po nderton ndertesen e re tamam ne bazen e High Line.

And this has been designed by Renzo Piano.

Kete e ka projektuar Renzo Piano.

And they're going to break ground in May.

Ata do te fillojne punimet ne Maj.

And we've already started construction on section two.

Ne kemi filluar tashme ndertimin ne seksionin dy.

This is one of my favorite features,

Ja nje nga detajet e mia te preferuara,

this flyover where you're eight feet

kjo pasarele ne lartesi 2.5 metra

off the surface of the High Line,

mbi siperfaqen e High Line

running through a canopy of trees.

qe kalon permes nje tende pemesh.

The High Line used to be covered in billboards,

High Line ka qene e mbushur me tabela reklamash te koheve,

and so we've taken a playful take

keshtu, ne u morem pak me to,

where, instead of framing advertisements,

ku, ne vend te reklamave,

it's going to frame people in views of the city.

tregohen njerez ne pamje te qytetit.

This was just installed last month.

Kete e kemi instaluar muajin qe kaloi.

And then the last section was going to go around the rail yards,

Dhe seksioni i fundit kalon rreth zones se shkembimit te shinave,

which is the largest undeveloped site

qe eshte zona me e madhe e pazhvilluar

in Manhattan.

ne Manhattan.

And the city has planned -- for better or for worse --

Bashkia ka planifikuar -- per mire ose keq--

12 million square-feet of development

nje seri ndertimesh prej 3.5 milion metra katror

that the High Line is going to ring around.

qe do te rrethohet nga High Line.

But what really, I think, makes the High Line special

Por ajo qe mendoj se e ben High Line te vecante

is the people.

jane njerezit.

And honestly, even though I love the designs that we were building,

Sinqerisht, edhe pse me pelqejne dizajnet qe po ndertojme,

I was always frightened that I wouldn't really love it,

kam pasur gjithnje frike qe a do ta doja me te vertete,

because I fell in love with that wildscape --

sepse u dashurova me ate peisazh te eger --

and how could you recreate that magic?

dhe, si mund ta rikrijosh ate magji?

But what I found

Por, ajo qe zbulova

is it's in the people and how they use it

ishte tek njerezit dhe menyra se si e perdorin ata

that, to me, makes it so special.

qe, sipas meje, e ben kaq speciale.

Just one quick example

Nje shembull i shpejte

is I realized right after we opened

eshte ky, qe vura re kur sapo e inauguruam,

that there were all these people holding hands on the High Line.

qe kishte gjithe keta njerez te kapur per dore ne High Line.

And I realized New Yorkers don't hold hands;

Dhe, u kujtova qe Njujorkezet nuk kapen per dore;

we just don't do that outside.

Ne nuk e bejme kete gje jashte.

But you see that happening on the High Line,

Por, kur e shikon te ndodhe mbi High Line,

and I think that's the power

mendon per fuqine

that public space can have

qe mund te kete hapsira publike

to transform how people experience their city

per te transformuar menyren se si njerezit e jetojne qytetin e tyre

and interact with each other.

dhe bashkeveprojne me njeri-tjetrin.

Thanks.

Falemnderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)