On 10/14/2013, the New York Times (
visit link) reported the following story:
"Statue of Liberty Reopens as Other Sites Stay Closed
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: October 13, 2013
Some tourists said they had held out hope that the federal government would get its act together in time. Others admitted they had all but given up. After traveling to New York City from far-flung places, they feared they would be resigned to squinting from afar at one of its most famous landmarks.
Maybe they could buy a pair of binoculars. Or write their congressman.
But on Sunday, they once again lined up in Battery Park, eager to resume one of the city’s most famous tourist rituals. For the first time since the federal government shut down on Oct. 1, the Statue of Liberty was open to visitors, financed, for now, by the State of New York.
“We wanted to be here first thing this morning,” said Janice Redfearn, a retired schoolteacher from Utah who was visiting with her husband, John, and described the Statue of Liberty’s sudden reopening as a “miracle.”
Ms. Redfearn said she and her husband worried that the shutdown would wreak havoc on their trip, and said they were thrilled that they were able to visit Liberty Island. But they had more headaches ahead: the next leg of their trip was a visit to Washington, where Mr. Redfearn yearned to visit the Smithsonian Institution, whose museums remained closed.
As of Sunday, under a deal negotiated by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, New York will pay the National Park Service $61,600 per day so that its personnel can operate the Statue of Liberty while the federal government remains shut down.
The agreement is one of several between states and the federal government to allow popular national parks, including the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore, to reopen during the shutdown.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” said Meredith Marcoux, a court clerk from Massachusetts who was visiting for the weekend and declared the Statue of Liberty “absolutely stunning.”
Bob and Nancy Hughes, who came from Minnesota with their daughter, worried about what foreign tourists would think about America’s government if they found national monuments fenced off and shut down.
“It makes us look horrible,” Mr. Hughes said.
Mithun Baphana, an electrical engineer from California, was visiting with his in-laws, who had an even greater right to complain: they had flown all the way from India.
They came to see the statue on Saturday and were told to come back the next day — which, given the shutdown, they considered a victory.
“We have been really lucky,” Mr. Baphana said.
Mr. Cuomo, who went to Lower Manhattan to announce the reopening, said the closure of the Statue of Liberty was taking a toll on the state’s tourism industry. His office said that more than 10,000 people, who spend on average about $35 per visit, were turned away each day that the Statue of Liberty was closed, and that hundreds of workers were out of work.
Wakil Ahmed, who sells ice cream and hot dogs near where visitors board ferries to Liberty Island, said business had fallen sharply while the island was closed. He cited a bedrock principle of food-vendor economics: “No people, no drinks, no eat.”
A performer who dresses up like Lady Liberty and poses for pictures with tourists — using a concealed stepladder for extra height — was also pleased about the reopening. Fewer tourists had been visiting, she said, and those who came did not want to give her any money.
She said that vendors who depended on Statue of Liberty tourists were suffering. “They have families,” she said. “They have to pay rent, and mortgages, and they have to eat, and they can’t afford it.”
Other attractions were still off limits on Sunday. Across the street from Battery Park, the doors to the National Museum of the American Indian remained closed, and a sign cited the government shutdown. Tourists were reduced to taking pictures on the museum’s steps, amid litter and a discarded Mister Softee milkshake.
A version of this article appears in print on October 14, 2013, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Statue of Liberty Reopens as Other Sites Stay Empty."