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Wrecking crews were tearing down the old Palisades Amusement Park in 1972 when David I. Ozerkis, then chief engineer of Roosevelt Island, joked that the best way to connect his island to Manhattan would be to buy the park's "Swiss Ski Lift" and string it across the East River.
Ferryboat service was being considered at the time, but the jest led planners to abandon that idea and design a gondola-in-thesky by the Queensboro Bridge. Soon, Mr. Ozerkis was building his famous aerial...