Obama Wants To Re-Open Lady Liberty’s Crown
Posted in Political on January 24th, 2009 by Scott Weaver – Be the first to comment
Lady Liberty's Crown: Re-Opened
Okay, I don’t want to seem like an Obamaniac but seriously, has he been kicking ass and taking names lately or what?
From freezing the salaries of over-paid White House aides to closing down the Guantanamo Bay prison to inquiring into open source software for government-wide use, it’s been what — three days? four? — and he’s taking care of business.
Now he wants to re-open the crown portion of the Statue of Liberty to allow visitors to have the view that was open to the public before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the twin towers. According to NBC New York’s article:
After Sept. 11, access to the crown was closed as a security measure, along with the rest of the Statue and Liberty Island.
When the island and base of the statue were reopened several years later, the crown remained closed. U.S. Park officials said the narrow spiral stairway first built for worker access was a danger for anyone suffering an injury or other medical event, such as a heart attack.
In addition, a 1999 internal study found that if there were a fire in the pedestal, the interior of the statue would act like a chimney, with smoke suffocating anyone on the stairs.
However, several politicians, including Weiner, have pushed for reopening the crown to visitors, and have proposed a plan that would allow perhaps 10 at a time to make the climb.
If there’s a ‘fire in the pedestal,’ I think the people inside the statue would have bigger fish to fry than suffocating smoke, but that’s just me.
Personally, when I went to New York a few years ago, we skipped the island with the statue on it and went to Ellis Island to visit the museum because no one was allowed to even set foot inside. Now that they’re talking about opening up the best part of the statue, I’m thinking about making another trip. New York is awesome.
Thank you Obama.
