New York, NY –
The Bloomberg Administration says the Waterfalls exhibit on the East River, which ran from June 26th to October 13th, had an even greater economic impact than anticipated.
REPORTER: Officials say the falls generated $69 million dollars in economic activity, exceeding the initial expectation of $55 million dollars. Seth Pinsky of the Economic Development Corporation says the Waterfalls drew 1.4 million viewers.
PINSKY: On the citywide level, this impact included some 79 thousand people, who otherwise would not have done so, to visit or extend their stay in New York.
Pinsky says tourists spent money in restaurants, stores and other businesses, like the Circle Line cruises.
The public art project by Olafur Eliasson was the city's largest since 2005, when famed artist Cristo marked 23 miles of Central Park's footpaths with thousands of saffron drapes, hung from specially designed "gates."
Arun Venugopal is a reporter and the creator of Micropolis, WNYC’s multi-platform series examining race, sexuality, religion, street life and other issues that define New York City. He has been with the station since 2005, and has covered a wide range of stories, including the death of Sean Bell, the controversy over the Park 51 mosque and community center and Occupy Wall Street .
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