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After considerable nagging from Representative Anthony Weiner, the federal government has hired a contractor to determine what it will take to reopen the Statue of Liberty's crown, which has been closed since 9/11. The study will cost $150,000, but Weiner, who's running for Mayor in '09, tells the Daily News it will just be a big waste of money if the contractor gets bogged down trying to bring the landmark up to safety and security codes: "This is a good step if it brings the National Park Service to where they need to be to reopen the crown. But if it's just another bureaucratic barrier, then it's not worth the paper it's written on." See, he's already got the hang of this mayor thing – if the data supports your argument, it's good; if not, it's worthless!
Study to Weigh Opening Statue of Liberty Crown
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It would be nice to open the crown again, but the view isn't much better than at the top of the base.
Too much trouble. Forget reopening the crown. Put high definition cameras all around the crown. Build a new virtual observatory near the base with giant screens recreating the view from the cameras. Even add seats so people can view in comfort. It wouldn't open the interior of the statue up to security risks or damage from visitors (intentional or inadvertent). More people can enjoy the view since they don't have to go up the stairs, including the elderly, disabled and the just plain exhausted. People wouldn't have to be rushed along to make room for those behind them. The Park Service can have more people watching the screens at any time and still have faster turnover since nobody has to take the long walk up and back down. It would be easy to get to people in medical during medical emergencies and also to evacuate them to a hospital. The complaints about the statue's interior being too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer wouldn't apply, since it would be much easier to put HVAC in a new, insulated structure. All in all, it could be a much cheaper option than painstakingly trying to upgrade the interior of a national landmark. I can't think of any downside.
Really, I have no idea why opening the SOL crown is such a big deal for Anthony Weiner...
www.forgotten-ny.com
If we don't reopen the crown, the terrorists win.
"Forget reopening the crown. Put high definition cameras all around the crown. Build a new virtual observatory near the base with giant screens recreating the view from the cameras. Even add seats so people can view in comfort."
The perfect thing is that this idea is so uniquely American.. "Let's go to the Statue of Liberty and watch it on TV!"
Spiritof76's suggestion for a virtual observatory would eliminate the problems associated with getting people up and down from the actual observatory, and would be a safer and more comfortable experience. That might be better than nothing, but only marginally so.
I think part of the experience is the physical aspect of actually being there; we lose something tangible if we settle for a virtual experience.
If we did that, I wonder how long it would be before other high profile attractions followed suit. We could end up with a virtual Tower of London, Notre Dame, Vatican, Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, Rainbow Falls, Mount Everest peak...
It could be justified on a number of levels -- make it easier for everyone to have the same experience, preserve the attraction from the wear and tear associated with too many vistors, help secure high profile locations against terrorist attacks.
Kojak says (jokingly?) if we don't open the crown, the terrorists win. It seems unlikely that their goal was to keep us from getting to visit the crown of the Statue of Liberty, but the post 9/11 curtailment of liberties we have come to live with have demonstrated that the terrorists don't need to "win" for us to lose.
the fact of the matter is, the Statue of Liberty is old and poorly-designed inside. Terrorists or not, the crown would probably have ended up closed anyway when some dumbass tourist fell down the steps or something.
It's not poorly designed. Bartholdi and Eiffel never intended visitors to visit the crown. That's why the stairs are so narrow.
I think part of the experience is the physical aspect of actually being there; we lose something tangible if we settle for a virtual experience.
The problem is exactly that the statue was not originally designed for visitor access. There's a small elevator retrofitted during the 1986 renovation, but that's for maintenance people, so the elderly and disabled can't get to the crown. That's hardly fair. I have to wonder how long before somebody sues under the Americans with Disabilities Act if the crown is re-opened. And people here on Gothamist were complaining about how dangerous Shea's escalators were because they have open sides. Have you seen the spiral staircase in Liberty with only one hand rail between you and a very long fall?
Spirit get it right please for once. How many people have died from climbing the stairs at the Statue of Liberty from the time it was opened? The spiral stair was conceived from the beginning to allow visitors to walk up to the top to see the view and return to the bottom . In fact when it first opened one could climb up the arm and stand on the balcony surrounding the torch.
The elevator was put in to allow access to the balcony at the top of the pedestal, not to the top of the statue. From there the view of the harbor is glorious.
The virtual view would be successful only if the video screens were powered by stair climbing devices that would require the viewer to climb 354 stairs before they could see the view.
Your idea is as intelligent as saying make climbers to Mount Everest watch a video of what it's like at the top of the mountain. Getting there is 99% of the reason for getting there.
Jeez, I must have walked that staircase over a hundred times as a kid/teen/20's. Hot/cold/spooky/noisy yeah, but that was half the fun. No, you can't make it handicapped accessible. Let 'em sue. What do they want us to do, cut the friggin head off & put it on the ground with a ramp? Safety & security codes? It's a 122 year old engineering/artistic/historic masterpiece. Leave it the hell alone. If someone in a "landmarked" building can't even paint their fence, what gives these knuckleheads the right to screw with the artist's/engineers'/builders' work. Enter, climb and enjoy at you own risk, leave your lawyer @ home.
I would love some individual to do a rendering of what a handicap ramp would look like so they can get to the crown.
God, Snoopy, you are one complete and unmitigated imbecile.
http://www.doi.gov/news/05_News_Releases/040330liberty
"Sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi never intended visits to the inside of Liberty. The stairs were designed for access by a light-keeper, so they are narrow and winding."
Are you saying the Department of the Interior doesn't know what it's taking care of? You must be so much smarter than they are.
And you're thinking of a different elevator, nitwit. A small service elevator installed in '86 elevator does run inside the statue. It is not and never has been open to the public.
Go ahead and embarrass yourself further. You should be used to it. You do it every day of the week.
You are a total idiot Spirit. The original intent of the statue was not a lighthouse. It was a beacon of hope, which is not the same. And who gave a shit about what the artist's desires were after the statue was built. The original flame was solid. How do you figure it was going to be used as a light house?
I forget the codes for these locales, but you can't just have a straight/curved ramp greater than a certain incline (degrees, rise/run), and also the ramp must have landings @ each certain distance. SOL's structure just cannot contain such a structure. Maybe if you build it starting in Jersey, covered, of course, climate controlled, with sprinklers, sniffers, cameras, emergency exits, you could pull it off for around three billion. Before bribes/graft/studies/overruns.
Oh, really?
http://www.lighthousemuseum.org/nylights/slibrty.htm
http://www.hudsonlights.com/liberty.htm
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980CE0DC1F39E033A25756C1A9649C94659ED7CF
Just when I think you couldn't possibly shove your foot further in your mouth, you always prove me wrong.
Additionally Spirit of idiot. Why would they construct a stair that led to the crown rather than the arm which was converted to a beacon in 1886. If you look at the picture of the statue's arm that was exhibited in Madison Square (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2085/2327422151_e477d2db1e.jpg%3Fv%3D0&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/12456197%40N03/2327422151&h=324&w=500&sz=77&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=hTUEI56_9j_ohM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstatue%2Bof%2Bliberty%2Bmadison%2Bsquare%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG) you can clearly see that the original intent was not a lighthouse, albeit as soon as the idiots of the US gummit got there hands on it they punctured the original flame and made it a beacon.
Right. So everybody who says anything other than what you say is an idiot. The Department of the Interior, the Lighthouse Board, the Times, even the designer himself. They're all wrong for contradicting the great Snoopy. "There's only one elevator! It was supposed to have visitors! It was never a lighthouse!" Oooookay...
Wow, dadoc is really beating that dead horse, isn't he? Nobody except him suggested a ramp and now he just can't let go of the idea.
DD
A hole I never said it wasn't a lighthouse I said it's original intent was not a lighthouse. That function developed out of a typical government idiots to make it into one.
Take a shower and get over it.
Additional info on elevator service in the statue which I told you before does not go above the pedestal.
http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/liberty/libertyfacts.htm
Bertholdi was not the designer, he was the sculptor of the statue. Know the difference before you make comments on things that you hardly know. Gustave Eiffel was the designer/engineer of the statue. Without his skills the statue would probably never have become a reality.
Ok, forget about the ramp.
But as to the many interesting aspects/uses of dead horses, well, don't get me started!
How'd you catch on to my hobby?
76 proof. Do you have any other suggestions for the handicapped other than the ramp or perhaps an exterior lift to get to the top? Let me answer for you, "Duh, no I don't." I thought so.
Actually, Bartholdi did design the statue as well as sculpt it.
I support the movement to reopen the crown, I've always wanted to visit the statue and visiting the pedestal just isn't the same thing as going up to the observation deck.
There is no "deck" at the top of the statue. It is just the top of the stairs that wrap around to the descending stairs.
Again, art is different than design. A sculptor is not a designer, he is an artisan perhaps but not a designer. A designer deals with function and structure.
Wow, just read the DOI post-9/11 "Talking Points".
What a load of (dead)horsesh-t. Never intended? Then why is there an up & a down staircase?
Just a bull excuse for why you can't climb. The Times article of 1894 clearly states that it is pretty useless as an aid to navigation. Examine the Upper Harbor charts. It is.
And did you know that from the top of the SOL you can actually see Deadhorse Bay? Unless, of course, you're handicappped, and there's no ramp.
Damn, sorry Spirit.
I take it back. There is a kind of deckish thing at the top. More like a warped surface thingie. I guess that's where the handicapped access ramp would end.
Geez. Snoopy has the reading comprehension of a kindergartner. Here he is showing off that he Googled that Eiffel designed the structure of the statue, as if nobody else knew. Like maybe I mentioned it back in [8]? If Eiffel really intended for the hordes to visit the crown, why such narrow stairs? Surely there was plenty of room for wider stairs. The center truss is more than twice as wide as the stairs. And he's still stuck on the idea that there's one elevator located only in the pedestal. Read my lips: there's another elevator inside the statue proper, but not for public use. Talk about denial. And this whole "it's not a complete trip if you don't go to the top" attitude is silly. Do we need to go to the top of every building in NYC to enjoy the city? The point of visiting the statue is to see the statue in its full-size glory. The view around it is incidental. Especially if you're being given the bum's rush after a few seconds at the crown to make room for people coming up behind you.
I don't have any suggestions for the handicapped? What do you think all of post [2] was?
Go back to trolling. When you try to be serious, you just turn out stupid. Just look at you. You can't have any kind of argument without resorting to "a hole," "shit" and other foul language. You must be getting frustrated.
Bartholdi is the designer! He produced concept models and sketches. He may not be the designer of the statue's internal support structure, but he designed the appearance of the statue as well as sculpt it.
Huh. I was originally skeptical about the lift in the statue as well... but whilst I haven't found any photographic proof, this diagram says there is one:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_BrnlYB5Hh2o/RfsrCuqoSVI/AAAAAAAAAG0/wIDLVIDxKfA/100_2151.JPG
However, I suspect the reason why the staircases aren't any bigger then they are is because of how wide they could be by the time they reached the base of the statue's head.
Either way, it's been a maintenance headache since people were allowed to climb up and 120 more years of footfalls could just be too much. The thing to do is close it down most of the year and open it up for special occasions. Other monuments do this and it's really no big deal. I always thought the best view of Lady Liberty was from across the harbor.
This isn't City Hall Subway Station we're talking about here (although I'd love to visit that too), it isn't some little known installation that you'd only know about if you ran in the right circles, this is one of the most easily recognisable landmarks the world over.
People who visit it don't want to go to the pedestal, where's the prestige in that? "We went to the Empire State Building, saw Grand Central and climbed up the Statue of Liberty's Pedestal". It doesn't really have the same ring to it as "I climbed the Statue of Liberty".
The statue needs to be reopened, plain and simple. They're not going to get the World Trade Center finished anytime soon so they might as well do their best to reopen the statue and return that corner of New York to normalcy.
If they can keep the Washington Monument open for all bar two days of the year, then I don't see how difficult it could be to maintain a similar setup with Liberty.