The Delancey Underground—the proposed "LowLine" park in the abandoned LES trolley terminal by the Williamsburg Bridge—is still a long way from becoming reality. But that distance just got a little bit shorter. The guys behind the idea recently turned to KickStarter for cash to build a "mini LowLine" proof of concept and got far more than they asked for.
Looking for $100,000, the team has already gotten $125,602—with 31 days to go. "We never thought we would hit it that fast," Dan Barasch, co-founder of the Delancey Underground project, crowed to DNAinfo. "It's a sign that we have a lot of people excited about it."
Now Barasch and his parters have lots ahead of them. They've got community boards, the city, the MTA and more to persuade that their idea of putting a park underground, lit by fiber optics, is a good and feasible one. One of their best arguments being, "When it's really cold, or pouring rain, how much fun is it to hang out in Central Park? The High Line? Not so much. The LowLine can be the 21st century answer to traditional parks: instead of building up, let's build down!"
In the meantime, though, they are also going to keep courting public opinion. In April they'll be showing more renderings and photos of the 60,000-square-foot potential park at the Mark Miller Gallery at 92 Orchard Street.
