A fence is drawing a divide in lower Manhattan, as many say the structure was put up without warning and is blocking views of the Statue of Liberty. Now lawmakers are getting involved.<\/p>\n
The seven-foot wire fence has sparked intense reactions from tourists and those who frequent The Battery. The U.S. Park Police said it was installed in March citing security during shoreline construction, but it leaves tourists hoping to snag a photo of the iconic landmark in New York Harbor having to jump on a park bench, or just reaching for the sky.<\/p>\n
“Tear down this fence and bring it back to the public,” said NYC Councilman Chris Marte.<\/p>\n
The National Park Service (NPS) said in a statement to NBC New York that the fencing has been at the location for decades, calling it “an essential security measure that protects the monument” and visitors.<\/p>\n
“The fence has occupied the same footprint at Battery Park since 2004, and we can confirm zero security breaches since then,” the statement from NPS read. “Little has changed on our end fencing wise over the last 22 years, except that we now open a panel in the southeast section \u2013 after ferry business hours are over each day \u2013 to provide park visitors with waterfront access through our area of responsibility.”<\/p>\n
That struck a nerve with those who live in the area.<\/p>\n
“That’s bull****,” said Susan Cole, of Community Board 1, who said the tall fence popped up without warning.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Congressman Dan Goldman gathered a group of civic leaders at the park to ask for a compromise.<\/p>\n
“Balance the necessary security with fair use and beauty of area,” said Goldman.<\/p>\n
The NPS said there had been recent discussions with city officials about the fencing, and plans were finalized at that time. The department added that it was “open to future dialogue” regarding the fencing, but said nothing would be considered that could “compromise the safety of the public or monument.”<\/p>\n
Park Police told News 4 that “removing the security fencing, or even modifying it without very careful consideration, would expose ferry operations to unnecessary risk for the sake of a better view.”<\/p>\n
When asked about the response from Parks Police, Rep. Goldman said that the NYC Parks Department “has proposed an alternative in consultation with JTTF and NYPD.”<\/p>\n
Battery Park civic leaders also wondered about fairness in the historic stretch of the city\u2019s waterfront, as the fence means only those who buy a ticket get that close-up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“You should not have to pay to have a view that is unobstructed,” said Tammy Meltzer of Community Board 1.<\/p>\n
The NPS said “any concerns around improving daytime views of the monument fall outside the scope of USPP, as we are not responsible for the majority of the waterfront.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fence is drawing a divide in lower Manhattan, as many say the structure was put up without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[359,9,24,55,54,56,23589],"class_list":{"0":"post-188825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-lower-manhattan","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-city-news","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-statue-of-liberty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}