January 23, 2009 2:54 PM

Obama Administration To Reopen Statue Of Liberty Crown?

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
In The News
(CBS/Gordon Donovan)
Ken Salazar, the new Secretary of the Interior, today toured the crown of the Statue Of Liberty, which has been closed to the public since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Salazar said that reopening the crown is "very important" to him, though he noted that the safety of the public must be taken into account. He said a study on safety concerns at the monument is expected to be finished in April.

The interior secretary dubbed the experience of touring the crown "awesome" after he descended today.

To get to the crown, visitors must ascend a narrow, 354-step stairwell originally built for use by workers, not tourists. Park police have long deemed the stairwell insufficient in the event of a medical emergency.

"It is tight," said state Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, who accompanied Salazar and backs reopening the crown, according to the New York Times. "It is cramped. It is hot. It probably isn't completely safe to have everyone go up, in any numbers, at any time. But the Park Service is full of slightly dangerous things you can do."

As the Associated Press reports, the base, pedestal and lower observation deck of the statue reopened in 2004 after a $20 million upgrade to address fire safety.

Add a Comment
by downtowner97 January 24, 2009 5:07 AM EST
I don''t get it.
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by ndg1979 January 24, 2009 3:52 AM EST
I am glad to see one more sign that an Obama administration is going to be full of workers who are focused on making America more friendly to its own people. My hats go off to Obama''s choices for wanting to take us back to the America we were taught about since childhood - a country we can show off to the world and be proud off.

I look forward to once again seeing a day when EVERYBODY throughout the world will be doing twists and flips just to get into a pair of genuine American blue jeans.
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by Krazcarl January 23, 2009 10:46 PM EST
GOOD NEWS!!!
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by newslink January 23, 2009 9:31 PM EST
It should be open, to whomever that want to tour it. It is an American Treasure and a Symbol of Freedom.
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by spadeisspade January 23, 2009 9:05 PM EST
Apparently the safety concerns descending sky scrapers in the event of an emergency aren''t comparable to the crown of a frog memorial.
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by rickwar January 23, 2009 8:50 PM EST
Visited many years ago, it''s awesome.

This was just more Bush administration paranoia.

Heck getting up in the morning is dangerous.

Reopen it, the sooner the better.
Reply to this comment
by matrixrx2003 January 23, 2009 8:35 PM EST
It should have been reopened in 2002, Bush is an Idiot.

Its a great source of revenue, I would pay to go up in the Crown !
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