Statue of Liberty to close for 1 year

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caramac

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to allow renovation work to be carried out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14485922

New York's iconic Statue of Liberty is to close for a year for renovations.

The 305ft (93m) copper statue needs $27.5m (£16.8m) in repairs, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

The National Park Service said new stairs and elevators would be installed within the 125-year-old statue, but Liberty Island would remain open.

The statue, dedicated in 1886, was given to the US by France. Most of the 3.5m people who visit Liberty Island each year do not climb the statue.

Visitors were barred from venturing up inside the statue in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, although they were allowed back into the observation deck a few years later.

However, officials now judge that out-of-date facilities make the statue itself, and not those visiting it, a safety risk.

"Two years ago, when we reopened Lady Liberty's crown to visitors for the first time since the 11 September attacks, I promised that we would continue to upgrade the interior to make it safer and more accessible for all," Mr Salazar said.

"With today's announcement, we are taking a major step in bringing a 19th Century icon into the 21st Century."

The statue is due to shut on 29 October, one day after a ceremony to mark 125 years since its dedication.

"It's disappointing," Vince Swift, president of the Statue of Liberty Club, told the New York Times. "But if it has to be any length of time, I'm glad it's only a year."

David Luchsinger, who runs the monument for the National Parks Service, insisted most visitors would not notice anything different about their visit to Liberty Island as they do not venture inside the statue.

"They're going to get the exact same experience," he told the New York Times.
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Why would you do that? said:
The Statue of Liberty is one of the very many places in NYC I've never been to. It's sad, really, considering I live here.
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i dont think they let you go up to the head anymore, which was exciting but frightening, so you really arent missing much

edit: oops guess im wrong. welp, time to check it out again
 
are they going to renovate it to make it be less ironic in the face of the patriot act?
 
I guess even historic buildings are not exempt from health and safety...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/11/statue-of-liberty-closes-year-nyc said:
It will be closed the following day, and workers from Joseph Construction, a New Jersey company, will install improved stairways and upgrade electrical and fire suppression systems, elevators and bathrooms.

The National Parks Service said in August 2010 that it would close the statue's crown to upgrade the stairwells and improve safety at Lady Liberty. One reason for it was that the newest fire codes mandate escape routes that would allow the statue to be evacuated within two hours, not possible on the current staircases on either side of the pedestal.
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I'm guessing that two hours is a journalist typo but I may be wrong.
 
effingvic said:
i dont think they let you go up to the head anymore, which was exciting but frightening, so you really arent missing much
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Yeah, when the statue was re-opened some time after 9/11 they didn't allow anyone to visit the head. But as mentioned, the head was later re-opened.

The head sounds fun, though.
/that'swhatshesaid
 
gcubed said:
it was closed for 7 years and they didnt think about doing it then?
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NYC is incompetent in all things building/subway related. It takes years and years to do things other countries do in half the time. WTC is enough proof of that. 10 years later and they aren't even halfway done. Shit's a joke. MTA is even worse.

Anyway I went to the statue of liberty once, could only get up to the feet though because everything above was closed. Not worth it unless you're with close friends, have to go up a shitload of stairs at a snails pace. I don't remember if there was an elevator or not, if so that probably wasn't working either though.
 
As others have said, I don't get why they didn't just do this when it was closed. Then again, it takes construction workers months to finish a road sometimes so I shouldn't be surprised.
 
Why would you do that? said:
The Statue of Liberty is one of the very many places in NYC I've never been to. It's sad, really, considering I live here.
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If I ever get to visit NYC it would probably be one of the things I would want to do. It's funny how lots of people who live on the doorstep of tourist attractions never or very rarely visit them. l live on the doorstep of where Robin Hood supposedly went about his business, and apart from going when l was at school and taking my own kids that's about it really.
 
To bring it in line with current policies they're going to change the plaque.

Instead of:
Emma Lazarus said:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
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It will now say:
smh America said:
No Browns Allowed
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"Repairs" eh?

heart%20of%20america--article_image.jpg


tumblr_loxh8kVo5Y1qdto2co1_500.jpg
 
I live incredibly close to the Statue. When I walk outside I can see it on my walk to work... and in the 3 years I've lived there, I've never gone...kind of shameful, really.

It's always been one of those "I'll get to it, someday" things. Well, I heard this on the radio this morning and I know my weekend plans. I've got to get out there before it closes.
 
I've been there several times while growing up but went there last thanksgiving weekend with my girl and it was one of the most stressful visits I've ever had for any tourist destination ever.

To get to the crown you need to have planned for it several months in advance (which I did) because tickets sell out immediately. Before you get on the boat you have to get thru TSA-type security that is carried out worse, slower and inefficiently by TSA-wannabe kids that is just a logistic mess. This first security screening took me an hour and 15 minutes before we got on the boat. My past horrible experiences with TSA lines at JFK and EWR seemed like vacations in comparison. This takes so much time that they prefer to fill up the boats to capacity, so you will never have a place to sit. Once you get to the statue, you have to go thru security again, and thats another 30 minutes. All in all, you will be spending more time in security and on the boats going to and from than you will up there in total. All that combined just made the entire experience so stressful for us that it pretty much ruined our day until we could finally find a good place to eat since we didn't get to have lunch until 2 PM.
 
gcubed said:
it was closed for 7 years and they didnt think about doing it then?
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hello mcfly, they want to bring it into the 21st century, not the weird "21st century" that you think those 7 years are in.
 
When I went to NYC, I just went to Battery Park to check it out and see all the weirdos and tourists that hang out there. That was enough for me. The hoops they make you jump through to goto Ellis Island didn't seem worth it.
 
Dave Inc. said:
To bring it in line with current policies they're going to change the plaque.

Instead of:

It will now say:
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I remember an episode of Street Smarts I watched while in middle school/high school, one of the questions asked was (paraphrased):

"Which national monument contains a plaque with the following phrase: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free?"

One of the persons on the street answered the Vietnam Memorial.

I cringed.
 
By repairs I sincerely hope it means slathering her up with psychomagnetheric slime, playing some Jackie Wilson, and defeating some Carpathians.
 
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