We live within a mile of Central Park, so I got the chance to view the Gates Project a
number of times. I ended up having a number of distinct thoughts:
1. It looks like a giant car wash.
2. But it's kind of cool (and at rare moments from certain angles, genuinely beautiful).
3. Yes, it's cool, but is it $20 million cool?
4. Well, every tv show costs (I'm guessing) a few million dollars to develop and air. So in its five year run, Punky Brewster probably spent ~$20 million as well. Given that fact, why complain about this?
Plus one final thought (largely courtesy of my friend Jason). Whatever its aesthetic and artistic merits, the project was exciting and interesting. They should do giant public art projects in the Park for short periods every year. Even the ones that "don't work" will help people remember how wonderful the Park is the other 50 weeks of the year.
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