Hudson Yards backs off wall proposal after backlash

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The proposed Hudson Yards “wall” is no more

A proposal that could potentially have installed a two-story wall between the second phase of the Hudson Yards megaproject and the High Line is officially DOA, after intense backlash from local lawmakers and the general, Hudson Yards-disliking public.

In a series of tweets from the project’s official Twitter account, developer Related Companies said that “there has never been a wall along the High Line, and never will be a wall.” In discussions with elected officials and the local community board, the developer had presented the wall option as one possibility for dealing with the technical challenges of decking over the existing railyard.

“We have always shared the vision that the Western Yard should include a great public open space,” the tweets continued. “We don’t yet have a final design, but have always understood clearly that our open space needs to work well with the High Line and the Hudson River.”

In the wake of Related’s announcement, politicians who had expressed outrage over the wall idea took a victory lap, even though the proposal was always just an idea that had been floated, and never a finalized plan. State Sen. Brad Hoylman, whose district includes Hudson Yards, told the New York Times, “I think the wall was needed so they might be able to have a private viewing garden for their luxury apartments, so that the public might not be peering into their compound that they’ve erected.”

And in other news…

• If you’re a Con Ed customer, your monthly bill might go up in the near future thanks to a coming rate hike.
• Three pedestrians were killed in Brooklyn in a span of 24 hours.
• Moinian’s 3 Hudson Boulevard, a 1,000-foot skyscraper rising near Hudson Yards, has a new design.
• A state Assembly member wants to rename Robert Moses State Park on Long Island. (But don’t rename it for Jane Jacobs. That just wouldn’t make sense.)
• Preservationists are worried about the erasure of the character of the so-called “Iron-Empire Corridor” on lower Fifth Avenue.
• After rejecting legislation that would have legalized e-bikes and e-scooters in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears to have changed his mind.
• And finally, former Mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg attempted to engage with his jokey Twitter counterpart, El Bloombito, but it didn’t go as planned: