Obama to open Liberty’s crown

Some of you may not know that the Statue of Liberty’s crown has been closed since 9-11-2001 primarily because of safety concerns. Well, the new president wants to roll back the clock to 9-10-2001 and reopen the attraction (NBC New York);

After Sept. 11, the government closed access to the crown along with the rest of the Statue and Liberty Island as a security measure.

When the island and base of the statue were reopened several years later, the crown remained closed off. 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.

A 1999 internal study had also 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.

Well someone called me last night to remind me that this happened twice the last time the crown was open while we were at war;

Yes, that’s our OLD friends at Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The person who called me also called the Park Service to warn them that this about the only thing the apes at IVAW haven’t had an opportunity to recreate from the VVAW’s hey day. I imagine that Bill Perry and John Grant are salivating at the prospect of sending the younger generation up those 354 steps.

I’m not giving them ideas they haven’t already had.

Category: Politics