City moves to clip the wings of high-fliers
New York
Part of New York's appeal comes from the opportunity it offers to reach for the sky. It is not only a city for those with ambition and dreams but it is the place where skyscrapers have played such a huge role in the lurching struggles of the most spectacular fictional creations, from Batman to Spider-Man, King Kong and many others. But folks trying to emulate the climbing and jumping stunts in real life are being warned: if councillor Peter Vallone Jnr gets his way, you could break the law and face jail time.
Mr Vallone proposed a bill to the city council last week which intends to get people who climb or jump from any structure higher than about 8 metres imprisoned for up to a year and fined US$1,000.
The proposed legislation has been triggered by the city government's frustration about its legal battle against Jeb Corliss, a renowned base (building, antenna-tower, span, Earth) jumper who tried to leap from the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building in April 2006. Corliss sneaked into the building by disguising his parachute in a fat suit. But he was caught on the ledge outside of the protection fence by security guards before he could 'fly', as he had done more than 3,000 times at various locations including the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.
The prosecutors sued the California daredevil for reckless endangerment after he was arrested, saying he could not only hurt or kill himself but also land on and crush people on the street. But the charge was dismissed last January by a judge who found Corliss' experiences in skydiving and his careful preparation for the jump (he spent 10 years studying the building, and the crowd and traffic around it) meant he should not have to face that particular charge. An appeals court last week reinstated the charge.
Corliss is not the only one who's been drawn by the city's high-rises. From the Chrysler Building to the erased twin towers, climbers, rope walkers and jumpers are no strangers to the landmark edifices. Those sought by the police after such incidents have had various fates. Some were sentenced to community service, some had the charges dropped and others vanished before the police arrived.
'I wrote this bill to make it much easier for prosecutors so that no longer would you have to prove there was any reckless endangerment, the fact that they jumped off the building would be enough,' said Mr Vallone. 'I don't mind if they want to do that anywhere else if that's their hobby, but don't do it where an innocent person can be put in risk.' Corliss fought back on the website of a local newspaper and a blog that carried a story about the reasons behind the bill. 'This law will take away fundamental human rights ...The jump from the Empire was fulfilling a life-long dream of human flight. An expression of true freedom,' he said.
Local tourists at the Empire State Building seemed to be able to agree on one point - Corliss should not use the building for free. 'They should get him to pay if he likes to jump,' said a Californian visitor who gave only her first name, Kim. Carly Frank, a high school student from Pennsylvania, said: 'I think if people pay money they should be able to jump there, but there should be more restrictions, like background checks.' This echoes the opinion of the city's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said a stuntman who pays for the costs of security could be allowed to jump but not someone like Corliss who seemed to only listen to his own will.
Mr Vallone also said his bill did not affect people who had permission to jump. The only problem: there is no way for Corliss to get a green light from the city even if he'd like to try. A spokesman from the mayor's office assured this reporter 'the city does not permit jumping off buildings'.
