Two gates, one in the Jewelry District and one on the East Side, were asked how they decide whether to open. They answered together, because they had been waiting for someone to ask.

JEWELRY DISTRICT GATE: I open for innovation.

EAST SIDE GATE: What is innovation?

JEWELRY DISTRICT GATE: It's when someone comes up to me and says growth. Or scale. Or that society has needs and they are meeting them. If they say it with confidence, I open.

EAST SIDE GATE: And if they've actually made something?

JEWELRY DISTRICT GATE: Then I ask whether it sells.

EAST SIDE GATE: I'm more careful. I open for the right people.

JEWELRY DISTRICT GATE: Who are the right people?

EAST SIDE GATE: The ones I've already let in. And a few each year who look like them. I get thousands of requests. I take a small number and then I tell everyone how hard it is to get through me, and that makes more people ask, and then I'm even harder to get through. It's very prestigious.

JEWELRY DISTRICT GATE: What about the artists?

EAST SIDE GATE: Oh, the artists have their own gates. Little ones. Very delicate. They open based on who you follow and what you like. If a musician posts that he got a booking, another musician's gate slams shut, because he's decided that means there's one less for him. They're fragile. You have to latch them gently or they come off the hinge.

JEWELRY DISTRICT GATE: And the politicians?

EAST SIDE GATE: They have gates too, but they mostly leave them half open in an election year.

A gap in a chain-link fence nearby, which had not been asked, spoke up.

THE GAP: I let everybody through.

The gates were quiet.

THE GAP: I don't check. A koala climbing a tree, being curious, I'll take it. An elephant with no chain on it, every time. Somebody I know making something that's actually good, yes, unconditionally, every time they make it. If it's good, it comes through. If I had a building, I'd let in everybody from the top to the bottom, in even numbers, all mixed together, so you could see what people actually look like.

EAST SIDE GATE: That's not a policy. That's a hole.

THE GAP: I know. I used to be a gate. I was closed for years. I didn't know anything then. Now I know a little, and the funny thing is, looking back, every time I stayed shut, I can't remember what I was protecting.

The Jewelry District gate opened briefly for a man saying the word "ecosystem," then closed.