I live in Nassau County, just over the border from Far Rockaway, where I got to analyze transformation of a public space. My close proximity to the Far Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk allows me to analyze the people there and the parks uses. The redesigning of the skate-park, and cleaning of the beach (most of which was a necessity after hurricane Sandy rocked the area), made the area aesthetically pleasing (in my opinion at least) and families of all different backgrounds roll onto the beach and promenade during the warm months. ( http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/nyregion/boardwalk-returns-to-rockaways-in-time-for-beach-season.html ) My fondest memories there are on summer weekends where I’d bring my inflatable kayak, and paddle under the nearby Atlantic Beach Bridge. I’d notice great diversity of people on the beach, with many ethnicities and an often crowded, yet shared space. Typically, there would be Spanish music and barbeques, Jewish families wearing traditional modest dress, Muslims wearing hijabs and burqas, along with a multitude of different spoken languages.

Throughout the summer, my bike route from work in Manhattan sent me over the Brooklyn Bridge, around Prospect Park, down Ocean Parkway, along the Belt Parkway, over the Marine Parkway Bridge, and finally straight down the length of Far Rockaway. I thoroughly appreciated the bike friendly route I was offered, and had an opportunity to experience riding through multi-ethnic neighborhoods. I’d notice diversity of income in the different areas, yet was happy to see public open space throughout.

I never quite thought anything of it, it was the way I’d always visualized ideal public spaces, and saw only good in urban projects.

Yet, while reading through Parks for Profit, Loughran brings up unequal opportunities afforded to people during use of the High line. He discusses how privileged people more easily use the space and private security and targeted events seem to discourage use by people of color and less privileged people. I don’t have much to go by, never having visited the High line, but it seems as though public space was divided up and disproportionate amounts in the most valuable areas were given to wealthy young whites.

The High line along with new zoning laws shifted the neighborhoods around the High line, changing an area deemed to be the epitome of the cities decline to a booming area of economic growth and gentrification. Private money being pumped into public spaces further enables cleansing of the ‘unwanted’. This model of park development produces a class of losers, who previously operated in the High line area, and those banned because of regulation of space. Winners consist of real estate developers and those moving into the gentrified area.

The High line today, has rapidly become one New York’s most visited tourist attractions and is regularly filled with buzz of a new Urbanism and a social elite.

On the NYC parks website ( http://www.nycgovparks.org/about/framework-for-an-equitable-future/community-parks-initiative/caring ) pictures of refurbishments done to parks, show gentle changes to old parks at a seeming attempt to simply improve parks function, rather than change a demographic or use. This link shows a pattern more similar to what I witnessed in Far Rockaway, where the city rebuilt public space to make it look more modern, without forcibly changing its population or use. But none-the-less changes in the High line show a disproportionate amount of space being spent to produce parks and better public space for the wealthy, when compared to poorer areas.