New Park? Friends of High Line Propose New Tax

The City of New York unveiled its latest park earlier this year, the much anticipated High Line Park, which runs through Chelsea and the Meatpacking District on the West Side of Manhattan. It's not your typical park, since it runs along the former elevated railway that used to supply factories and manufacturers until the service ended decades ago.

It was turned into a park over the past few years and it now provides residents with some truly interesting vistas of the City.

The Friends of the High Line, which designed and operates the park on the City's behalf, however, needs to pay for the park, and their solution is simple. Tack on a property tax surcharge to local properties through the creation of a new business improvement district, which would stretch from Gansevoort Street north to 30th Street, and from 10th Avenue to the Hudson River.

Open less than two months, the High Line already has its hand out.

Facing crowds that are much larger than expected and with the recession putting a crimp in fund-raising, the High Line's founders are proposing a business improvement district that would tax nearby property owners.

"We want to make sure we can keep maintaining the High Line to this level that has worked so well," said Friends of the High Line co-founder Robert Hammond. "We've been talking about it for a while, but now it's becoming more of a necessity."

Hammond said that weekend crowds have averaged 20,000 visitors a day, while weekdays typically draw between 6,000 and 10,000 visitors -- about four times as many as predicted before the park's opening on June 9.

With the added crowds have come higher maintenance costs, Hammond said.

Friends of the High Line, a not-for-profit group, oversaw the design and construction of the $152 million, city-owned park. The group also has a license with the city to maintain and operate it.

Hammond estimated that operating costs will be roughly $3.5 million to $4.5 million a year. The city kicks in about $1 million, leaving the not-for-profit to raise the rest.

The operators didn't figure out how much this would cost to operate? That figures. They underestimated the costs, and with the recession, they're having a hard time raising donations to cover their portion of the costs.

So, they're doing what municipalities and politicians all over the metropolitan are are considering. They're going to call for a tax hike. In this case, it's a property tax hike on those businesses close to the park. After all, the reasoning goes that they benefit from the park, so they should pony up to pay for it.

The Friends of the High Line might push the proposal by the end of the year unless there's serious resistance to their plan. Given how the government seemingly can't stop finding ways to nickle and dime taxpayers, I'm sure that's going to go over real well.