High Line maintenance fees surpass $4 million

Officials at the High Line say the park will now cost up to $4.5 million per year to maintain, or between $522,388 and $671,641 an acre, surpassing Bryant Park as the city’s most expensive park. The average city park receives $9,555 in funding per acre. The city is contributing $1 million per year in taxpayer funds for the yearly operating costs of the High Line, and the non-profit group Friends of the High Line was supposed to cover the remaining $3.5 million. Instead, the group is hoping to create a High Line Business Improvement District. Friends of the High Line co-founder Robert Hammond said he blames the increased maintenance fees on “high volume combined with the challenges of operating an intensely planted public space on an elevated structure with limited access” while also having to enforce occupancy and public safety codes other parks don’t have to deal with. [NYDN]

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