Tourists Once Again Flock To Wall Street Bull; Barricade Controversy Continues
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Wall Street Bull can once again bask in the attention of tourists and New Yorkers alike.
On Wednesday, the NYPD removed some of the barricades in front of the famous Downtown icon after 131 days of being behind a fence.
The sculpture had been off limits to tourists since the first day of the Occupy Wall Street protest on Sept. 17. It did, however, get a very brief taste of freedom on January 2 to celebrate its birthday.
There are still plenty of barricades around the perimeter of the bull and an NYPD police car is keeping watch as tourists flock to it for pictures.
Arthur Piccolo, chairman of the Bowling Green Association, is calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to take down all the barricades and remove the police car.
"Protect Charging Bull the same way you do every other major site in NYC without this outrageous behavior of the last 130 days," Piccolo said in a statement.
Piccolo has also launched a complaint against Bloomberg and Kelly saying they were "misappropriating city funds, personnel and equipment" in protecting the bull.
"My estimate subject to more precise analysis is that to date the cost to the citizens of New York City has been an astonishing $468,000 and will reach $500,000 or one half million dollars by the end of February, 2012, with no end in sight of NYPD overtime and use of city resources," Piccolo says in the complaint.
Piccolo told 1010 WINS on Wednesday that he isn't convinced the barricades will stay down.
"Until we get a statement from the Police Commissioner or the Mayor that these barricades are coming down and they're not going back up, I will not be comfortable with the situation," he said.
The NYPD says it will decide whether to allow access to the statue on a day to day basis.
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