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The turn-out of High Line supporters for Monday's Eastern Rail Yards Public Forum was great: more than 200 people rallied at Midtown's Red Cross in favor of preserving the entire High Line, including the Spur over 10th Avenue. Supporters wore red "Save the Spur" T-shirts and held signs during a presentation by The Related Companies, the designated developer at the rail yards.

It's not too late to join us and Alex Feleppa, director of horticulture for the Horticultural Society of New York, for a naturalist walk on the rail yards section of the High Line. The walks are this Saturday, June 7 (there are three sessions.)

Another big Rail Yards announcement this morning: the Related Companies have stepped in where Tishman Speyer dropped out earlier this month.

After a last-ditch effort to get their West Side Rail Yards negotiations back on track after Thursday's announcement, Tishman Speyer was unable to sway the MTA.

The MTA's statement today was short and sweet. In its entirety:

... And so can you! There are still a few spots remaining for the remaining Sketching the High Line classes with artist Ann DeVere.

Last Saturday was the first class, and it was a really wonderful experience. Ann led us through a series of warm-up exercises to get our creative juices flowing, and then we sat for few longer sketches, observing and recording the unique viewpoint we had of the High Line and its surroundings.

Don't miss this great opportunity!

There are spaces available for the following dates: May 10, May 17, and May 31; click here to sign up. All classes begin at 11 am and end at 12:30 pm. These classes are identical, so registration is only permitted for one class. Members receive a discount; click here for more information about becoming a member. More photos after the jump.

 

Last week, a group of twenty Tiffany & Co. employees removed their jewelry and donned gardening gloves to clean up trash on the rail yards section of the High Line in anticipation of our High Line sketching classes which starts this weekend.  The employees are all part of TIffany 's TeamBuilders Manhattan, a group of staffers that get together for volunteer projects and social activities.  Departments from across the company were represented, including the corporate office and the Wall Street and Fifth Avenue retail stores.  The all-female crew broke up into three smaller groups and tackled different sections of the High Line between 30th-34th Street, filling nearly 25 bags with trash in just an hour and a half.  The bags were then removed by a Parks Department sanitation team.

Summer is just around the corner, or so this 80-degree day would have us believe. Above, sunset at the rail yards, last summer. It's hard to beat that golden light filtering through the smog over New Jersey.

Yesterday, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussof used Tishman Speyer's winning rail yards bid as an example of a problematic trend in urban development. He explains that misleading renderings are designed (or censored) to prevent public objection, so projects can slip easily through the public review process. Tishman Speyer, or course, is only one example of this, but when the MTA's announcement was made, Ouroussoff noticed,