Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
However guests arrived to the Friends of the High Line benefit, they left in high spirits. And that had little to do with the beautiful people and Bellinis at Cipriani Wall Street, the gracious hospitality of event chairwomen Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, or even the $1.2 million raised. The High Line high comes from the story of the organization: A handful of people set out seven years ago to create a park out of an abandoned railroad on the far West Side of Manhattan. Along the way, neighborhood leaders, preservationists, architects, urban planners, and celebrities rallied to the cause. So did key city and state politicians, who cleared hurdles and allocated money. Now the project is on track for a 2008 completion date.
“What you have done is enormously important,” Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said to the 800 guests. The gubernatorial candidate seemed relaxed and confident at the podium, giving an impromptu introduction of Tiki Barber (“I told Tiki I needed someone to block for me; he said we’d negotiate”) and throwing out a few feel-good lines (“The greatest thing about New York is that it transforms itself”).
And then it was time for the official business of introducing and interviewing the event’s three honorees: fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg; the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, and actor Kevin Bacon.
“How did you make this happen?” Mr. Spitzer asked Ms. Quinn, who was part of the City Council team, led by a former speaker, Gifford Miller, that has committed $45 million to the High Line.
“I did exactly what Josh and Robert told me,” Ms. Quinn replied, referring to the co-founders of the Friends of the High Line, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, who famously steer clear of the spotlight at their galas.
Mr. Spitzer asked Mr. Bacon about the influence of his father, an urban planner. “The last thing I wanted to do was get involved with urban planning,” Mr. Bacon said. But the High Line was irresistible. “I use public spaces every single day of my life. I think they are so essential to our mental health. And if you can make a new one, it’s amazing,” he said.
Ms. von Furstenberg said she was “touched by the dream” of the project and also was driven to give back to the city she loves best. “New York is very special. Everyone from the whole world comes here to sell his idea or product,” she said.
Though construction has begun, there is still a lot of High Line selling to do. The organization is embarking on a $50 million capital campaign and has recently hired Diane Nixa from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center to oversee it.
