Lady Liberty to reopen despite federal shutdown

The state of New York agreed to temporarily shoulder the costs of running the Statue of Liberty, allowing the icon to reopen to visitors despite the federal shutdown. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that the state would pay over $60,000 a day to reopen Liberty Island National Park through Oct. 17. If the shutdown persists beyond then, state officials said they will renegotiate.

New York has 33 sites that fall under the National Park Service’s jurisdiction, and they have all been shut since the shutdown began, on Oct. 1. It was in the state’s economic interest to ensure the statue was accessible, Cuomo said on Sunday, according to Crain’s.

“When you close down the Statue of Liberty, you close down a good portion of the tourism that comes to New York City, and that is untold millions of dollars of damage,” he said.

Indeed, the statue generated $174 million in economic activity in 2011, the park service said, by attracting nearly four million visitors. [Crain’s]  – Hiten Samtani