Peter at the Gates Closing Day.

pedicab-peter, originally uploaded by Green Biker.

This is Peter member of Time's Up and one of the orginal founders to bring Pedi-cabs to New York City.

I ran into him on Sunday, the closing day of the Gates project in Central Park.

Under snowfall, the "Gates” project officially closed in Central Park after a 16 day run. New Yorkers had mixed feelings about the 7,500 gates spread around 23 miles of the park. Some are trying to figure out why they call this art. Others just enjoyed seeing the park in a new light, sprinkled with orange wickets spanning the various park trails. Vendors in central park that rely on tourist dollars had no problem figuring out what the installation was all about…money. Many vendors saw a huge increase in sales with all those visiting the display and finding themselves in need of a hotdog or a pedi-cab ride through the park. Mayor Bloomberg praised the project for bringing in millions of dollars to the city.

The project cost $21 million dollars and was the brainchild of fellow French-Belgium artist couple Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and his partner Jeanne-Claude. These artists are best known for wrapping entire structures in plastic such as the Point Neuf in Paris and the Reichstaf in Berlin. They have also dotted the landscapes of Japan and California with giant umbrellas.

The couple had wanted to do this project for 20 years and were turned down twice because of logistics for such things as wanted to dig holes and needing the park closed for a certain amount of time.

Also, I highly doubt former mayor Rudy Giuliani would have welcomed such an art project, being the prick he was against artists.

I got to see the project a couple of times and have to say I liked it. It was interactive; you could see the park in a whole different light. Each path you took became a new visual adventure.

Maybe Christo can come back to NYC and wrap the new jets stadium in plastic…permanently.