Tourists baffled and angry as Statue of Liberty shut; Yellowstone visitors, turned away, get taste of U.S. government shutdown

AFP | Wed, Oct 02 2013

Tourists baffled and angry as Statue of Liberty shut

NEW YORK – Where once she welcomed immigrants pursuing the American dream and more recently hordes of tourists, the Statue of Liberty stood alone on Tuesday, victim of the US government shutdown. Thousands of frustrated tourists had the choice of a one-hour boat trip around New York harbour or their money back, with one of the most iconic monuments in the United States closed.Dozens of people working on the boats taking people to and from Liberty Island, run by US National Parks, were on hand with infinite patience and multiple languages to help marshall the baffled tourists.

“No statue today, nobody is going on the island,” said Brian Fahey, who works for Statue Cruises at the Battery Park pier in southern Manhattan. “But you can join a one-hour harbor cruise that goes by the Statue, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, the Brooklyn bridge,” he added. Large notice boards everywhere repeated the same information.

“The government has temporarily shut both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Please join our one hour sightseeing tour and see the magnificent sights of New York harbour.” But many visitors were reluctant to be fobbed off with a boat trip.

“I just arrived yesterday from Seattle, I bought my tickets yesterday, they could have suspended the sales, or sent notifications,” said Shriram Parameshwaran, a 26-year-old engineer.

He was uninterested in the cause of the shutdown – the latest ideological skirmish between President Barack Obama and House Republicans over the scope of the US government.

“I have no idea what this is about,” he told AFP.

He wanted his money back. He wasn’t interested in the mini cruise.

Stefan Neuhaus, a retiree on holiday from Berlin with his wife, was annoyed but philosophical, his head in a guide book looking for an alternative plan of action for the beautiful autumn day.

“I was very happy, I had tickets for the crown and now it’s impossible… there is no possibility until November and we’ll be gone.” “It is a very bad political system, the opposition has such strong power,” he said.

Mr Michael Mueller, a retired visitor from Arizona, and his wife Bea had planned their trip to New York for six months.

Instead, she was left in tears at what she said should be the last thing to close.

“The Statue of Liberty is such a strong symbol for so many people. It is America, it symbolizes freedom, jobs, a government you can trust,” she said.

Her husband said he was fed up.

“I am really unhappy with Washington, by the executive power and Congress, they cannot get anything done,” he said.

“I’d like to tell them ‘get it done’.”

As the morning went on, the crowd of tourists only got bigger. So did the incomprehension.

Staff were left to explain, again and again, in English, in Spanish or sometimes in Italian.

“I’ve read everything about the Statue, I always wanted to come to New York, I came from Seattle and it is closed?” said Michael Hines, 47, blaming the Republicans.

One staff member, called out to man the crowd of tourists and who refused to give her name, said she was just happy to still be working.

“People in the concession stands on the island, they have all been furloughed.” According to Mr Fahey, 8,000 people visit the Statue of Liberty each day at this time of the year.

No one knows when it will reopen. The Statue was already closed eight months after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy last October.

“Never mind, it’s just bad luck,” said one French couple from the Auvergne.

“Happily there are plenty of other things to do.”

Yellowstone visitors, turned away, get taste of U.S. government shutdown

Tue, Oct 1 2013

By Ruffin Prevost

CODY, Wyoming (Reuters) – Bartender Evelyn Burgess drove all the way from Seattle hoping to see wolves and bears in their natural habitat in Yellowstone National Park, but instead headed home on Tuesday after the first U.S. government shutdown in 17 years closed the park.

The only close look Burgess got of the predators she sought was through fences at a private wildlife refuge on Monday before rangers on Tuesday turned her away at the entrance to Yellowstone, famed for its wildlife and gushing geysers.

“I kind of feel like we’re getting screwed over on this deal,” said Burgess, 30, who had paid $25 for a seven-day pass to the world’s first national park, which she was visiting on a long-awaited vacation with her mother.

Burgess joined a string of disappointed vacationers on Tuesday who were either turned away from the park or told they would soon have to pack up their tents and leave amid a standoff between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over healthcare reforms.

Yellowstone, straddling a rugged corner of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, is among 401 National Park Service attractions across the United States that shut their gates to fee-paying visitors after the U.S. Congress missed a midnight deadline to agree on a spending bill.

Among the iconic U.S. sites that were closed to visitors on Tuesday were the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty and Alcatraz Island, the home of the infamous former federal jail in San Francisco Bay. Also shut was California’s Yosemite National Park, which celebrated its 123 birthday on Tuesday.

Burgess had wasted at least $2,000 in lost wages and travel expenses, including booking a time-share in West Yellowstone, Montana, although that was the least of her disappointments.

“It’s also the emotional letdown of planning this whole trip and now not being able to even get into the park,” she said, venting her frustration at the standoff between Obama and congressional Republicans. “Yellowstone Park has absolutely nothing to do with health care.”

‘IT’S REALLY PRETTY EMPTY’

Would-be visitor Jack Leighton, 63, meanwhile, who was headed for the mountainous park on a cross-country trip starting in California with his adult daughter, watched in dismay on Monday as his holiday plans were ruined.

“We sat there in a cheap motel in Utah last night, turned on the TV and watched the government go down in flames,” he said. “It’s embarrassing and humiliating, and I can’t tell you how frustrated I am that politics has gotten in the way of the beauty of our country,” he said.

An offer floated by Republican party leaders on Tuesday to mitigate some of the impact of the shutdown would restore funding for federal parks, veterans programs and the District of Columbia, although it was rejected by the White House.

The national parks attract some 280 million visitors a year, among them about 3.5 million who flock to Yellowstone, where signs at its five entrances on Tuesday read simply “Government Shutdown, no visitor access.”

Inside Yellowstone itself, there were few visitors on Tuesday despite a warm, sunny fall day that would usually draw much larger crowds, said Montana-based nature photographer Christopher Cauble.

“It’s really pretty empty, and kind of strange walking around with so few people here,” said Cauble, who drove into Yellowstone on Monday evening when it became apparent that a shutdown would mean visitors would be barred.

“A few people here are just checking their phones to see if there are any updates, and some are just wandering around mumbling things about Republicans,” he said.