budget of over $5 million. It has an annual operating budget of $11.5 million, in addition to capital construction and management and fundraising expenses. Friends of the High Line has raised more than $150 million in public and private funds toward the construction of the first two sections of the park. Unlike the first two phases, to which the city significantly contributed, Friends of the High Line was responsible for raising funds for phase three (an estimated $35 million). The organization raises over 90 percent of the High Line's annual operating budget from private donations. When the city donated $5 million to the High Line in 2012, there was criticism that most city parks had received less funding that year, especially since Friends of the High Line had raised an extra $85 million that year. The organization has an office on Washington Street, near the park's southern end. It has 80 full-time, year-round employees and about 150 full-time summer employees. Friends of the High Line has been run by president and co-founder Josh David after executive director Jenny Gersten stepped down in 2014. Co-founder Robert Hammond served as executive director until he stepped down in February 2013. Friends of the High Line has a 38-member board of directors consisting of many New York City businesspeople and philanthropists, including Amanda Burden of Bloomberg Associates, Jane Lauder of Estée Lauder Companies, Jon Stryker of the Arcus Foundation and Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation. Impact Since its opening, the High Line has become one of the most popular visitors attractions in New York City. By September 2014, the park had nearly five million visitors annually, and in 2019, it had eight million visitors per year. Most of these visits came from tourists; a 2019 study found that tourists made up four-fifths of the High Line's total visitor count. Residents quoted in The New York Times stated that the park has become a "tourist-clogged catwalk" since it opened, and one critic called it a "tourist-clogged cattle chute". Gentrification and development The recycling of the rail line into an urban park and tourist attraction has revitalized Chelsea, which was "gritty" and in generally poor condition during the late twentieth century. It has also spurred real-estate development in the neighborhoods along the line. According to mayor Bloomberg, by 2009 more than 30 projects were planned or under construction nearby, and by 2016 more than 11