House Passes Amendment To Reopen Statue of Liberty, Closed Since 9/11

New Yorkers may soon be able to climb the Statue of Liberty again. The House of Representatives yesterday passed an amendment to reopen the statue, which closed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat of Brooklyn and Queens. Although the site officially reopened on August 3, 2004, the statue’s interior and its crown, with its famously expansive views of the New York harbor, remain closed.Mr. Weiner’s amendment to the House national parks appropriations bill authorizes the transfer of $1 million to a security account that the National Park Service could use to provide greater protection for Liberty Island. The measure passed by a vote of 266 to 152, with many Republicans voting in favor, and no Democrats voting against.“Now we go to work on getting the votes in the Senate,” Mr. Weiner told The New York Sun, “but there’s nothing stopping the Park Service from getting the message right now, and starting to do the work necessary to let us all back into the Statue of Liberty.He added: “The reason it’s still closed is a lack of imagination or will on the part of the Park Service. Either open it, or tell us why you can’t.”Several members of the National Park Service headquarters in Washington referred calls to New York, where the local press offices referred calls back to Washington.A spokesman for the National Park Service northeast region, Brian Feeney, declined to comment on Mr. Weiner’s amendment, saying he was not familiar with it, but said he believed the quality of the visitor experience remained high despite the closure. “Last year we had 3 million visitors to the Statue of Liberty, and our visitor survey showed that the majority absolutely enjoyed their experience,” Mr. Feeney said.Mr. Weiner was not mollified: “To simply say you can go visit the island and pat Lady Liberty’s toes is not good enough,” he said.Every other national monument that closed after the attacks has been reopened, Mr. Weiner noted. “We figured out a way of opening the Capitol, we figured out a way of opening the Washington Monument, we figured out a way of opening the Hoover Dam,” Mr. Weiner said. “Let’s have it reopened.”Republican critics of Mr. Weiner’s amendment argued that the statue was one of the highest-profile targets for terrorists, and that the Park Service had already spent more than $20 million improving security for it.In floor debate, the chairman of the House national park subcommittee, Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican of New Mexico, told Mr. Weiner that the spiral staircase leading to the crown of the statue was too narrow to evacuate quickly in an emergency. “No amount of money can change the size or the scope of the stairway. It’s limited by the diameter of the statue itself,” Mr. Pearce said.Still, a broad consensus has emerged that the Statue of Liberty can be safely reopened. The New York parks commissioner under mayors Koch and Giuliani, Henry Stern, supported the initiative wholeheartedly.“This is really one of those things where security guys just have blinders on,” Mr. Stern said. “When I was a kid, I climbed the Statue of Liberty. It was one of those exciting things we did. … The view of the harbor was terrific, and you felt you were performing a patriotic ritual by climbing the stairs.“They’re afraid something will happen and they’ll be blamed,” Mr. Stern said.”You should be able to fully appreciate what is really the most famous statue in America. … It was a wonderful treat for me as a child, and I wish that people today were able to do it. There’s no reason they can’t do it with adequate safety precautions.”Although there is no actual force of law in the Weiner amendment to compel the Park Service to reopen the crown, “if 266 members of the House, and hopefully the Senate as well, vote on this … the hope is it will happen,” a spokesman for Mr. Weiner, Andrew Koneschusky, said.Reopening the statue, Mr. Weiner said, is an opportunity “to say we’re completely back on our feet after 9/11.” He said he hoped the Park Service would comply.“If they come back to us and say we need additional funds, or this has turned out to be difficult, I think Congress will be responsive,” Mr. Weiner said. “The problem here is the Park Service hasn’t shown any sign of wanting to do this, and Congress today showed that we’re fed up with waiting.”

House Passes Amendment To Reopen Statue of Liberty, Closed Since 9/11

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