1srelluc
Diamond Member
- Nov 21, 2021
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The iconic ocean liner ss United States is facing a new challenge in the more than decade-long struggle to repurpose the once fastest passenger ship in the world for a new use as a static attraction. The ship has been ordered to vacate from Pier 82 in Philadelphia by September 12, 2024, prompting the non-profit that owns the ship to scramble to find a new location and cover the costs of moving the nearly 1,000-foot-long vessel. In an odd quirk of fate, the decision came 25 years to the day after the ss United States was listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of her “compelling national significance.”
SS United States Conservancy had been fighting in court with Penn Warehousing operator of the Philadelphia pier where the vessel has languished for the past 28 years managed by a caretaker. U.S. District Court Senior Judge Anita Brody ruled today that the landlord could not arbitrarily double dockage fees without notice as the non-profit claimed it had done, but also ordered the vessel to leave the dock. During the court battle, the landlord accused the ship of having damaged the berth while the Conservancy said it was all part of an effort to evict the ship.
“While the Conservancy was vindicated in not being compelled to pay a large sum of back rent to the ss United States’ pier operator, the ruling makes clear this iconic American symbol is in peril,” said Conservancy President Susan Gibbs, the granddaughter of the ship’s famed designer, William Francis Gibbs. “The judge’s decision gives us a very limited window to find a new home for the ss United States and raise the resources necessary to move the ship and keep her safe.”
After the ship was stripped of everything in its interior it should have been scrapped.
Instead its hanging around like a zombie.....I say reef her.
