Give me your tired, your nauseous, your claustrophobic yearning to breathe free
(AP Photos/David Goldman)
So they’ve started letting people go up in the crown of the Statue of Liberty and somebody proposed blah blah blah. But here’s the really important information from Suzanne Ma’s AP article:
The National Park Service says the crown remained closed because the narrow, double-helix staircases could not be safely evacuated in an emergency and didn’t comply with fire and building codes. Tourists often suffered heat exhaustion, shortness of breath, panic attacks, claustrophobia and fear of heights, spokesman Darren Boch said.
New handrails have since been installed to help with the climb, and only 30 people per hour are allowed up the dark, narrow staircase. They are guided by park rangers along the way.
The first 30 huffed and sweated as they made their way, twisting and using the handrails to pull themselves up stairs sometimes too small to fit an entire foot.
Maybe they should build a four-foot glass “Liberty Ledge” around the crown. Visitors could look straight down 260 feet to the line of ant-sized tourists on Liberty Island. Or install the “Emma Lazarus Zipline,” a cable thrillride from the Torch, around the Tablet, and into New York Harbor!
Here’s the full AP story.