I remember nearly 10 years ago the horrific incident involving a 35-year-old father from Arkansas looking to experience the Statue of Liberty with his wife and kids. He was sucker punched by an illegal ticket hawker selling him tickets that didn’t take them to the Statue of Liberty, fracturing his skull.
Fortunately, as the only authorized ferry service to the Statue and Ellis Island, Statue City Cruises hosted him and his family a year later to finally visit Lady Liberty. It was a beautiful moment of resilience, but also a spotlight of the horrific conditions in Battery Park where illegal ticket hawkers continue to rip off and intimidate unsuspecting tourists.
Two councilmembers are introducing legislation to license unauthorized boat and bus ticket companies that use illegal ferry ticket scammers, as a way to hold them accountable. Our question is simple: Where has the City Council been these last four years after the onslaught of media coverage and many ignored requests to address this outrageous situation? As written, the bill is ineffective, and we strongly oppose it.
Here’s a quick recap: In 2012 after Superstorm Sandy closed Statue and Ellis Islands for more than eight months, rogue ticket hawkers flocked to Battery Park, selling an array of tourism tickets. When ferry service to the Statue resumed, illegal ticket activity continued and today, the problem is completely out of control.
Construction to raise the Battery seawall has limited entrance into the park, creating two choke points and gauntlets of illegal ticket scammers who deceive tourists by telling them “the Statue of Liberty is closed,” “it’s sold out,” “there are long lines at security,” etc. All lies to sell alternate tours that depart from locations miles away. We monitor this situation daily and just last month, we counted a record 81 illegal ticket sellers on a single day.
This proposed legislation will make the problem worse for numerous reasons. First, it fails to recognize that there is no vending or selling in city parks, period!
Second, there is no language that specifically states a boat or bus operator that directly or indirectly utilizes these third-party ticket sellers can have their operating permits revoked.
Third, the legislation fails to recognize just how easy it is to put a bogus logo on a vest, forge a license and make up a company name with no enforcement requirements. This lack of enforcement allows the scammers to thrive, costing the city millions in fees and tax revenue annually. The legislation is also toothless because the affected city licensing agencies were never even consulted by the bill sponsors.
Here is what we need to do:
- Create and enforce a no-vending zone around Battery Park similar to that around the World Trade Center site. The no-vending zone around the World Trade Center, which is referred to in the bill, is regularly enforced and walking the area the other day, there wasn’t a single ticket seller in sight. The city should cordon off Battery Park in the same manner.
- Engage with the only authorized provider of ferry service. We were given virtually no opportunity to share our perspective on the bill by the bill’s sponsor. Work with us to make meaningful changes that will solve the problem. We know the companies engaged in this illegal behavior, through our own investigation and our years of work with NYPD and other agencies.
- Facilitate daily, consistent enforcement across appropriate city agencies. Between the NYPD, NYC Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP), and the Department of Sanitation, which now has enforcement jurisdiction in city parks, kick these scammers out for good. If it worked on the Brooklyn Bridge, it will work for The Battery.
- Revoke the permits from the boat and bus operators the way the city Economic Development Corp. did in 2019. It was effective and as the Daily News wrote in an August 2019 editorial in kicking out one of the companies out of Pier 36, “once the boats stop sailing, the hawkers stop selling.” NYC DOT and DCWP should follow suit with the bus companies that do the same thing.
As we prepare to welcome thousands of tourists this summer and millions more next year for the FIFA World Cup and America’s 250th birthday, we must clean up Battery Park once and for all. The Statue of Liberty is the symbol of freedom, not the symbol of illegal activity. The legislation as written “misses the boat.”
Burke is COO of Statue City Cruises, the official and only authorized provider of ferry service to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
