Lawmaker Calls for Probe of Circle Line, Park Service Contract

Reacting to a New York Sun article about the Circle Line’s apparent misuse of $1.7 million in funds meant for capital improvements at the Statue of Liberty, a U.S. congressman has called for the Department of the Interior to investigate the ferry line’s contract with the National Park Service.Rep. Robert Menendez, a Democrat of New Jersey, sent a letter to the department’s inspector general, Earl Devaney, that said in part: “The New York Sun article raises some disturbing questions about how these capital improvement funds are being spent, and I’m concerned that the families that visit these national treasures are being shortchanged at the expense of a private company’s profits.”Last week, the Sun reported that while Circle Line’s contract with the federal government prohibited it from using funds from the Statue of Liberty’s capital account for operational costs such as repairs to “the Ellis Island bulkhead and Liberty Island pier and bulkhead,” the ferry company was doing just that.Despite this clause in the contract, the Circle Line used more than $1 million from the capital account on repairs to the piers and bulkheads used by its ferries at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.While a National Park Service spokesman confirmed that the government had authorized the spending, he could not explain whether it was a violation of the contract or who had authorized the spending.In addition to using the money to finance the pier repairs, Circle Line also dipped into the capital account to pay about $370,000 for marketing the ferries and the company’s other boats like the Zephyr cruise and Shark speedboat thrill ride; $120,000 for repair to the seawall at Battery Park damaged by the ferries that dock there; more than $200,000 for Circle Line’s electronic ticketing system, which charges ticket buyers an additional $1.75 fee that goes to Circle Line, and $60,000 for Circle Line boats to meet Coast Guard standards for vessel positioning systems and air conditioning in the ferry pilot houses to keep boat operators cool.Under the Circle Line’s contract, it must pay 15% of its revenues in the form of a franchise fee to the National Park Service. One-third of that is meant for capital improvements at the national monument.In his letter, Mr. Menedez wrote: “Circle Line has been the sole provider of ferry service to Liberty Island and Ellis Island since 1953,and I have become increasingly concerned in recent years about the effect that this monopoly has had on the quality and affordability of service to these two historic sites.”

Lawmaker Calls for Probe of Circle Line, Park Service Contract

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