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John Makely / NBC News
A police officer makes his rounds at the Statue of Liberty National Monument which has been been closed since Hurricane Sandy.
John Makely / NBC News
Superintendent David Luchsinger walks along the pathways damaged by Hurricane Sandy on Liberty Island. Luchsinger and his wife were residents of the island when the storm hit in October 2012.
John Makely / NBC News
Much of the brick pathway on Liberty Island damaged by the storm will be replaced with larger pavers.
John Makely / NBC News
Ruined spotlights that once illuminated the Statue of Liberty need replacement.
By Andrew Rafferty, NBC News
The Statue of Liberty no longer towers over huddled masses these days. Instead, at her feet sit atop dumpsters filled with debris, piles of dirt and bricks ripped from the walkway that once led tourists around Liberty Island.
More than three months after Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of New York and New Jersey, the symbol of American exceptionalism still stands on an island full of rubble. Lady Liberty escaped the storm unharmed, but like so many Sandy victims, her home was destroyed. About 75 percent of Liberty Island was submerged. Nearly all the island’s infrastructure was destroyed by water that was more than five feet deep over some parts of the 12-acre island.
Neighboring Ellis Island has no upended sidewalks or debris anymore, but it will take a long time to repair the electrical system and infrastructure of the sprawling complex that welcomed 12 million immigrants to America.
Both islands have been closed indefinitely to visitors.
Despite the visible disarray, officials say they have recently turned a corner. The cleanup is largely complete, the damage is documented, and some relief money will soon start coming in to begin repairing millions of dollars worth of damage. Details of a final plan for the parks reopening will likely come within the next two weeks, according to park officials. They are hopeful the Statue of Liberty will be open by summer.
But not knowing when Lady Liberty will welcome visitors again has caused frustrations, both for those who work in the park and for politicians who view the landmark as a revenue source for the New York economy. Earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. asked the Department of the Interior to set a hard and fast timetable for reopening the statue.
"The Statue of Liberty is still shuttered more than three months after Sandy struck the city and tourists, businesses and all New Yorkers need to know that the end is in sight," read a statement released by Schumer this month.
The National Parks Service and the vendors that cater to the island stand to lose at least several million dollars in ticket, concession and souvenir sales, park officials estimate. They've already lost two of their busiest times of the year -- Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even on a cold February day between 7,000 to 8,000 people will brave the Hudson River to view some of America's best known landmarks. As the weather gets warmer, everything gets busier. Last year the Statue of Liberty welcomed 3.7 million visitors.
John Makely / NBC News
Millions of dollars in revenue are lost with the closure of the popular tourist destination.
John Makely / NBC News
A tour boat passes the heavily damaged auxiliary dock on Liberty Island.
Those numbers are not lost on David Luchsinger, superintendent of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. He understands the toll that the prolonged closure has taken on the 450 employees and contractors who worked at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island before Sandy.
John Makely / NBC News
Hurricane Sandy inundated Ellis Island, flooding all the basements where most of the mechanical systems operated. Ellis Island will probably take longer to open than Liberty Island.
“We want it opened as soon as Sen. Schumer and everybody else does, and we're going to get it open as quickly as we can, and we're hoping that by the summertime we'll at least have the Statue of Liberty back open,” Luchsinger said.
But Luchsinger's focus has been not only on rebuilding, but improving. Before coming to New York, Luchsinger spent three years in Louisiana helping the recovery effort from Hurricane Katrina and getting through Hurricane Gustav and Ike. And for him, attention needs to be placed not only on repairing, but on preparing so that when the next storm hits, this type of devastation will not occur. That means elevating electrical and HVAC systems to prevent flooding from knocking them out again and looking into putting a gas line underground to Liberty Island.
"That's what's taking so long, we want to make sure that when we put things back, we put them back the right way," said Luschsinger.
For most of the past three months, the superintendent has had the task of telling media, members of government and the public that no timetable exists. Just this week, the Department of Transportation announced $28 million in emergency relief funding that will partially go toward repairing Liberty Island's two docks.
"The tourist season means jobs and customers - and we want to help make sure popular parks and tourist destinations in New York and New Jersey are as accessible as possible and open for business," Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez said in a statement.
The announcement set off a new round of speculation that Lady Liberty could be open to the public by Memorial Day. But Luchsinger, thanking the Department of Transportation for the aid, said that "the many other necessary repairs" will keep the park closed indefinitely.
Also, it took 91 days after the storm hit Oct. 29 for Congress to pass a $50.5 billion relief package.
After Hurricane Sandy swamped both The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island much work remains according to Superintendent David Luchsinger, who also lost his residence in the storm.
"Now that Congress has given us the funding, you know, we're in a position to start making things happen finally," said Luchsinger. But he is quick to point his team did not wait for a check to get to work. Almost as soon the storm moved out, the cleanup effort began. An incident command team took to the islands, working out of their cars.
While progress is slow but sure on Liberty Island, much larger Ellis Island will take well beyond summer to get up and running. The silver lining is that none of museum’s more than one million artifacts was lost. After the storm, the valuables were shipped to a museum archival center in Landover, Maryland, and there are no plans in place for bringing them back anytime soon.
Many of the employees who worked on Ellis Island and the surrounding parks now operate out of Federal Hall, still without phone lines.
Members of the parks department were getting ready to celebrate in the days leading up to Sandy. For the past year, the interior of the monument had been closed for a $30 million renovation that made it more accessible to visitors with disabilities. On Oct. 27, the monument's 126th birthday, visitors were again able to peek through Lady Liberty's crown. Thankfully, since there was no damage to the statue during the storm, none of the new renovation will need repair.
"The secretary [of the Interior Department] and I were celebrating one day and crying in our beer the second," joked Luchsinger. "But I know this park will come back, and I know it will be better than it was."
John Makely / NBC News
The Registration Room at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. While the building is intact, all of the mechanical systems in the basement were heavily damaged.
John Makely / NBC News
Until the building can be adequately climate-controlled, most of the artifacts that were on display in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum have been removed and archived in Maryland for safe-keeping.
John Makely / NBC News
A vacant wing of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
John Makely / NBC News
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Why bother, Obama has plans to tear it down anyhow.
The great media coverup is that the Sandy recovery is going very poorly. Bush was crucified daily for nearly a year because of Katrina. But Obama gets a free pass. There are still many homeless, much destruction not cleaned up and of course the Statue of Liberty. $60 Billion appropriated. You better believe union contractors will get theirs. But the victims, not so much. And no one seems to care.
GOP, block aid programs with the definition of cut spending..
Globally Oppress People
The GOP delayed funding the repair costs.
Symbolic of our country's current state of affairs thanks to the current administration
Bush was lambasted for delaying rescue operations, and appointing a bad FEMA director. Many people died because of those delays. It had nothing to do with the clean up efforts, or rebuilding. Which is still going on in N.O.
The bill was only delayed because a bunch of pork was attached to it that would do nothing to help repair the damage caused by Sandy. Curious all you anti-GOP'ers always forget that. No one had a problem with helping those impacted by Sandy. Many had a problem of letting tons of pork take money away from those victims.
Gary,
FEMA doesn't lead the clean up. local governments do. FEMA provides assistance, emergency supplies and coordination to the extent the local governments ask for it. They also provide funding for loans and in some cases grants.
The biggest problems remain in the more densely populated areas. Just getting power back is a massive job in these neighborhoods, particularly when sub stations and switchgear has been destroyed. This kind of equipment isn't just sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting for someone to buy it.
Then there is sewage treatment which also suffered major damage. To make things worse, they have had a pretty nasty Winter. Many people lost furnaces, these have to be replaced. Fuel oil is the typical heating fuel source here too. It's not like you just hook up to a natural gas line. If someone lost a furnace they also likely got water in their fuel tanks. That means they have to be pump out,drained and cleaned and the get new fuel delivered. So much of the work has had to go on without power or heat in the middle of a few unusually bad Winter storms. These are also areas too crowded to provide room for temporary shelter.
As for Union workers. Well that is why people there make a decent living compared to redneck states. The workers there belong to Unions. What do you want to have happen? Refuse to hire local contractors and have FEMA truck in illegals to do the work?
FEMA did a pretty good job with the initial emergency situation, after that it is mainly in the hands of the local governments who were begging for money and House Republicans were refusing to provide it. New Jersey Republican Governor Christie had no issues with FEMA, but he hammered Republicans in Congress for playing games. Who are you going to believe, Fox News pundits or the most outspoken Republican Governor in the nation who just happens to be right in the midst of it?
I will agree to the first part, but blaming only the current adminstration is naive and foolish.
Way to cut through the red tape, BARRY !
our countries famed land mark is now nothing more than a landfill and the country is not far behind !
Well she is French. And we in the US hate the French. Right?
As usual the misinformed right wingers (mike-2598123 and Ho-lee-cow) are embarrassing themselves. It was Obama & Democrats who were trying to get the budget passed to get this done, it was the right wing kooks that held it up for 3 months.
It never fails to amaze me how ignorant the tea party is. If Rush or Hannity told you the world was flat you would believe it.....
Uh, Mike, Congress appropriates the money. Anyway, don't expect Congress to care or do anything to help. They are too busy throwing the Pentagon and everyone else under the bus in order to destroy our government and country since this is what their wealthy, special interest paymasters demand.
I hope all that money US government gave New York is going to be used to bring these places to their former glory.
Many of those repairs have to wait till the weather warms anyway.
Well enough. Republicans have turned the country into a land of rubble.
Oh well, maybe the tourists can go down to Washington, DC and visit the Washington Memorial. Oops, that's s5till closed as well. And there are literally hundreds more of national monuments and smaller national parks and parklands that are closed as well. Budget cuts have beeen responsible, and as infrastructure is allowed to decay further it is more difficult and more expensive to restore the longer it takes.
To Republicans, money spent on things like the Statue of Liberty and Washington Monument and National Parks makes no sense at all as long as there are CEOs without private jets.
But to me, it was out heritage --- unbtil we blew it.
Where id the radical liberal Governor of New York?
He is out prompting the confiscation of guns from law abiding citizens, prompting abortion and gay rights. While the State of New York falls apart economically and physically
For those independent & wakehead and uneducated :
Here are the facts :
FEMA had billions of dollars to help sandy victims and BARRY promised to cut the red tape for FEMA !
which to this date has gave out billions to WHO ? NOT the people or even damaged govt property !
also the people still is not getting help from banks or insurance companies..
INSURANCE was to pay for personal property damage NOT THE US GOVT !
and the congress passed this sandy relief bill for those who didn't have insurance 2 months ago ! WTF
is the hold up EVERYBODY HAS THE FUNDS (banks, insurance and local municipality) EXCEPT the people who lost there homes or business's..
come on down to staten island and ask them how things are going and if they dont beat your ass for even asking, they will slam the door in your face !
I find it highly appropriate that our Statue of Liberty is a shambles considering the hatred towards immigrants from our more conservative friends (I'm surprised she isn't crying) My great grandparents migrated from Ireland and unless you can claim American Indian ancestry your great grandparents migrated from another country also.....
Hey, using CAPS LOCK to EMPHASIZE your points isn't making you look any smarter. It just makes YOU look like an idiot for not knowing how to SPELL and for forgetting that it was Congress that refused to pass a funding bill for months. And restating your previous BS arguments several times doesn't make you more right
Why should anyone care? It doesn't effect them personally. I can sleep, eat, go to work, and enjoy my free time well enough while the island is closed or open; so why should I care?
You can go back to sleep now. Oh yeah - just 'cause you do not care about OUR nation's symbol - you can pack you bag and leave any time you want. You (and those like you) are the root of of all problems in MY country.
Our nations symbol is our flag.
i agree mike. this country is going down. sad.
"Symbols are for the symbol minded".... G.C.
Obummer is busy flying around the country at the tax payers expense.
Someone needs to tell Odipstick he can not run again for president..
I wounder who he is going to blame the last 4 years on?
I wonder (not wounder) how you managed to make it out of 3rd grade. Or did you?
Oh look the spelling police are here..
It's not that you spell like a 3rd grader. The problem is you think and have the maturity level of one.
This is a subtle jab at immigration reform!
When we visited Ellis Island last September, it was very poorly organized and not worth the time we took to visit. Let's hope the National Parks Service can significantly upgrade the experience of visiting the island. There is a compelling story of immigrants arriving in America that deserves to be told in a meaningful way. In contrast, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., is exceptionally well organized and presents history of that period in a way that is appropriately factual and emotionally compelling. It would be nice if Ellis Island could offer vistors a similar experience.
Well like Mississippi, Flordia, and other low lying areas most of Liberty Island will be permanently under water in about 200 years.........
Perhaps then we can outlaw ALL immigration!
Dear gizmowiz. We are all immigrants or related to immigrants unless you are a Native American. And of course, they immigrated here thousands of years ago. If every person that was an immigrant in North America that came here within the last 500 years left, we'd only have a small population. Typical Americans that care only about themselves. Now that we're here, the hell with the rest.
give it a rest colorado...even your so called natives came from elsewhere.
as long as you come to America legally there is no issue with immigrants...when you sneak under the fence and start to suck up tax money then you should get deported.
Lady Liberty greeted most of those immigrants, the majority hard working people.
Even she never expected the class of takers that has been created by liberals.
I thought it was those good churches (who couldn't possibly be liberal! LOL) were responsible for that?
It got no tourists because people don't want to pay to visit a wind-sweept island in the dart of the Winter, DUH.
Not true John - as the article says even in the winter, people want to visit the islands, which mean so much to our shared heritage.
So you have pavers, lights and a pier to fix. Oh please, people are still homeless and need a home. Sounds like the pork belly spending is coming up again. Corporate donations could fix these problems quite easily, unless the government needs to spend more money!
American exceptionalism is an illusion we afford ourselves so we don't have to accept the fact that the country that was built on the backs of our grandparents has been allowed to slowly decay and become corrupted by special interests. We are exceptional except for our education system, our healthcare system, our worker's rights, our laws and taxes that favor the few over the many, and the inability of our government to act in the interests of the country's people. Other than that, we are exceptional.
Sorry David9000, but this country was not built solely on the backs of our grandparents. It was built by slave labor, cheap Northern labor, immigrant labor, etc...1 in 5 Union soldiers were European immigrants. I can go on and on. But this country was not built on the backs of our grandparents. Give it some thought.
John Colorado,It was built on the backs of many people's great great great grandparents who were paid slave wages.No matter the race,the country,paid or underpaid labor is, what built this country.American Indians were used as slaves but somehow people seem to forget that.Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are Americans two of our countries most important landmarks and legacies and they need to be fixed asap.
Well Mr. Boehner, actions and no action does have consequences after all doesn't it? Such a shame, its bad enough people in the northeast had to wait how many months just to bring up funds for Sandy relief for a vote and probably still wouldn't have been brought up for a vote if he had not been called out for it. People aren't the only ones who have suffered, our national emblems and historical sites have suffered as well. We are the laughing stock of the world and I'm sure our founding fathers are rolling in thier graves.
Hey obummer how is that free trip you are taking going??
Maybe he is trying to find out why people in his home town are killing each other...
Chicago, one of the highest tax rates in the country, some of the toughest laws on guns, run by democrats & unions.
Liberals must be proud of that..
Any idiot in Chicago knows they can go 40 miles to Indiana and get guns at a gun show. Easily. No background check just sign an affidavit.
@ho,
Actually Obama and his family reimburse the taxpayers for all non-business trips at the first-class, median price rate. (That's typically about 8 times coach fare.) The rest of it comes out of the White House security budget and is provided for even if the President doesn't want it. Only someone very stupid or a liar would think it was free.
And Obama's home towon is Honolulu, HI. Or didn't you notice that his hometown was in Hawaii. Chicage is only his voter residence.
Chicago is no more run by democrats and unions than any other town or city in the country. The simple fact is that there is actually almost no party politics at the local level except for personality politics. This is because issues like foreigh trade and wars and other things have little ot no influence on local politicians and vice versa.
Let me guess, you have no idea what a liberal is, right?
Oh for God's sake, can we stop with the "American exceptionalism" hype? Those of us who live here, and are observant, know that there's a LOT wrong with that bragging point. Americans (esp. Repub politicians) love to gloat about this, to the amazement of the rest of the world, I'm sure, but anyone with their eyes open understands how tedious and annoying it is. Stop it already.
Agreed. And besides being delusional, it is dangerous, because it makes us think we are inherently superior. Just exist, and our dreams will appear.
by all means we should aim low and become socialist europe
Okay, @Greyfox, maybe we should "aim low." By doing so, you would have a higher standard of living, decent health care, much better retirement, much, much better working conditions with higher pay, more vacation and sick time, and much better worker protections under the law.
Or are you talking about aiming low "like an American"? We are 52nd in health care and pay twice as much per capita as the #1 in health care (France) and only cover less that 50% of our citizens. But we pretend we are number one and it is all the fault of immigrants. But there is only so far you can go with Tea Party pretense and nothing real or tangible to aim at .....
BTW, @Greyfox,
It was FRENCH elementary school children who collected the money to have the Statue of Liberty designed, built and shipped to the United States. Fundraising by Americans to provuide a site and pedestal proved difficult and work on the pedestal was threatened due to lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the World started a drive for donations to complete the project that attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. Most of this was raised by schoolchildren.
I guess that is some more of that "aim low" philosophy. If you air low enough, French schoolchildren will raise money and give you your national monuments. That way you can continue to give tax cuts for the wealthy and not waste it on things like statues that stand, not for the United States, but for freedom for the whole world.
I think priorities are straight here. First get people back in their homes, then deal with everything else.
WinWin,
I think we all agree here on that issue. What makes me angry is, it took the House way too long to even vote to allocate any funds, for people or everything else.
Most republicans voted against appropriating funds for Sandy repairs for 3 months and even then most voted against them. Repairs will take longer than expected because of the republican party. If not for Chris Christie we would still be waiting.
The National Park Service gets alot less bang for a buck. Tough and expensive for contractors to work for. They need to drop their arrogant air and work with contractors for what is possible in quality in the 21st century and not try to break the sub-contractors.
I think the American taxpayers wants the NPS to continue to be frugal with the taxpayer dollar and continue to get the best quality work at the lowest possible cost.
As a "VIP", Volunteer in Parks, for more than 15 years, this fairy tale about the "expensive" demands of the National Park Service is a pile of you-know-what, just another T-P fairy tale to excuse their hatred of government.
The Park Service is very thrifty and careful, while at the same time, not allowing contractors and their subs to get away with shoddy work.
Despite that care, there are times when shoddy work has to be redone in order to see to it that the park facilities don't fall to pieces in a short time.
These days, thanks to this recession and the downward pressure on middle class incomes, parks and historical places around our country are under great pressure due to travelers.
They get visits from travelers who come from all over the world; and Americans are treating their kids to vacations in the great parks and the wonderful historical sites all around the country, rather than venturing overseas.
They are a great investment because we want them to be available to the generations to come.
Cheap, shoddy construction that doesn't last just won't do the trick, Yank.
Quit whining that your fellow sharks can't fleece the government for extra money.
Haven't all the profits from your fake war overseas been enough profit for you?
It's not the job of the Park Service to let you get away with giving nothing substantial for their hard-won funds.
Middle aged white male attorney
The 60 billion has been appropriated now for almost 60 days , why isn't being spent ...........Now !! Not because of a four day delay by the GOP !!. How had did you past the Bar ?????
I have noticed that most of the attorneys advertising on TV for personal injury are Left wing extremist
( Democrats ) Are you a left wing extremist ???? and why aren't you using a real name ?????????? instead of an alias
Isn't the point of being on a blog to be anonymous? Everyone uses avitars, except maybe you.
@Lois,
It is NOT the point of a blog to be anonymous. It is the point of a blog to share what you know or believe with others. Anonymity only allows jerks to be jerks with no consequences to suffer.
I'm not living in a fantasy world Lois ...................the real world is were I reside. Try it !
We all live in the real world, but using a avatar gives us anonymity.....try it, you may like it.
Oh yes Lois we all recognize that "using 'a' avatar" provides anonymity to many without the capacity for intelligent debate. By hiding behind the anonymity of an avatar many are brave enough to spout nonsensical garbage when they cannot back up their statements with truth and facts....try those, you may like them as well.
...yet, there she stands, as proud as ever! Lady Liberty Lives On!
I hope they get these two islands fixed back up soon.
I was amused reading the story about how much the repairs will cost. One $28 million dollar fund (which they don't say will fix everything), is many many times what one of the more simple efforts would cost to be on the watch for more of these meteors like hit Russia.
Money, money, money, more money, give us money, we need money. God Almighty, $50.5 billion and they still whine. Try being responsible for yourselves. $12 for a ticket to visit Ellis Island/SoL. Could some of that money actually be used to repair stuff like this or does it actually cost that much to take a person out and back for a 5 minute boat ride?
These are all issues that can put people to work. Work is what fuels our economy and progress. The infrastructure across the country needs an overhaul. The business community should be tapped for funding its rebuilding, as they have prospered greatly. Corporations across the country have recorded record profits in the last 20 years. And its time they give something back.
Well said! Can I get an Amen or Hallelujah?
How about a "so it was written, so it shall be done"?
Whats important to our "leader" is playing golf here in Florida and complicating our lives here. He dont give two shoots about "OUR" symbol!!!!