(Photo: Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao)

Through much of Rego Park and Ozone Park, there is not a park to be had. There is only a rail line, unused by the LIRR since 1962, by turns overgrown with saplings and littered with discarded auto parts. A few years ago, rusty leftovers like this were thought of as urban-renewal sites. Today, of course, the smashing success of the High Line has trained us to think differently, and so the tracks look like a promising site for public space. The Queens�way (as they’re calling it already) is mostly at grade; converting it to parkland, and maintaining it, should not take the intense investment that Chelsea’s favorite new greensward required. The neighbors on either side, apart from a few rail fans who want their trains back, are eager to see it happen; so are the lion’s share of local businesses. The remaining requirement is scarce and precious but also, once it has been mined, unstoppable: civic will.