Tonight's New York Voices: Maya Lin and Jane Jacobs

My cleaning plans tonight will be complimented by some TV:

Tonight on NEW YORK VOICES:
"Maya Lin and Jane Jacobs"
Airs Friday, May 12 at 9:00 pm on Thirteen

Tonight NEW YORK VOICES looks at two women who have had a profound effect on our urban and cultural landscape. First, Rafael Pi Roman sits down with New York-based architect and artist Maya Lin, who first came to fame when she created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The daughter of immigrants, Lin discusses her personal ties to her latest project: designing a new home for New York's Museum of the Chinese in the Americas.

We also pay tribute to the late Jane Jacobs, author and urban analyst whose philosophies on urban planning have made a lasting impact on how New York City functions and thrives. The segment features Columbia University historian Ken Jackson, New Yorker critic Paul Goldberger, and Jason Epstein, who was Jacobs' longtime editor. They reflect on Jacobs' legacy, including her successful fight in the 1960s against a six-lane highway that would have sliced through SoHo.

We close with a story on the Sanborn Company, which has been documenting the city's changing landscape since the 1860s. Sanborn Maps, originally created for fire insurance companies, recorded nearly every detail of every block and sidewalk in New York, from fire hydrants to back porches. Recently, the company contributed aerial photography of Manhattan Island to Google's online mapping software.

Thanks Bruce!