S.I. Culture Kiosk to Close at Ferry Terminal

Jen Chung

Published Nov 29, 2008

Modified Nov 29, 2008

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Jen Chung

Published Nov 29, 2008

Modified Nov 29, 2008

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The Staten Island Advance reports that the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island is closing its information kiosk at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan. Why? Well, even though the workers (many of them retirees) answered lots of questions, only "5 percent of the inquiries ...had anything to do with Staten Island's arts and culture offerings." Sure, there were questions like, "Where do I get tickets for the Statue of Liberty? What buses go to Denino's pizzeria? How much does the ferry cost, and where does it go, anyway?," but given the economy and budget concerns, the group decided it had to shut down the booth. While the S.I. Borough President's office points out that there are new tourism videos playing in the terminal, one of the booth's workers says he would upsell the S.I. to people with Statue of Liberty questions, "You don't want to go there, you want to go to Staten Island."