(DNAINFO)  Maya Rajamani | February 13, 2017 — “I wish we’d asked, ‘What can we do for you?'” the park’s co-founder said in an interview with CityLab.

The creators of the High Line “failed” to design a park that benefited the neighborhood around it, one of its co-founders said.

In an interview with CityLab, Robert Hammond said he and his co-founder were focused more on the aesthetics of the park than the effect it would have on residents living around it as planning took place.

“Instead of asking what the design should look like, I wish we’d asked, ‘What can we do for you?’” said Hammond, who is currently the executive director of Friends of the High Line. “Because people have bigger problems than design.”

Since it opened in 2009, the park has attracted millions of visitors and garnered widespread praise, but it’s also been accused of putting gentrification into “hyperdrive”and “destroying” the neighborhoods it traverses.

Source: ‘We Failed’ To Design Park That Benefited Neighbors, High Line Creator Says – Chelsea – DNAinfo New York