NEW YORK, May 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Monday they object to the planned method to screen Statue of Liberty visitors.
Months after being battered by Hurricane Sandy, the Statue of Liberty is scheduled to reopen on July 4, and National Park Service screenings of visitors will take place after a ferry ride from Manhattan to Ellis Island, prior to arriving at the statue, the television news channel NY1 said.
Speaking at a news conference Monday, Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kelly reinforced their call to have visitors submit to screenings in Manhattan, before boarding the ferry.
Kelly previously expressed his reservations in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, suggesting the Park Service could fund screening stations in Battery Park, in Manhattan for a nominal increase in the ticket price of $17, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
"It's sort of ridiculous," Schumer said at the news conference. "It's sort of saying, 'We're going to screen people at airports after they get off the plane, rather than before they get on the plane.'"
