Sink their boats

The return of nice weather brings with it tons of tourists heading for the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island. Every day, they pour out of the subway stations at Bowling Green and South Ferry heading for the government-sanctioned Statue Cruises boats to the islands to see the one and only Lady Liberty and the fabulous immigration museum at Ellis, where 12 million newcomers landed.

The official tickets cost $18.50 (no tax), but many don’t get a chance to purchase passage (or get to the islands) because preying on that parade of tourists from Paris, Peoria and Poughkeepsie are illegal ticket hawkers in Battery Park, peddling expensive $36 ducats for boats to nowhere.

Lying that that official boats are sold out or that the security scanning lines take hours (it doesn’t) and promising a

1-hour express trip, the hawkers trick tourists. But the unfortunate suckers face a multi-hour sojourn — first bused two miles to Pier 36 to wait for a boat, followed by a one-hour voyage around the harbor, then deposited back at Pier 36. It’s a royal rip off since the Staten Island ferry is a free harbor trip (without a bus ride).

As Pier 36 and the other docks used by the bogus boats are city-owned, the city Economic Development Corp. can end the hawkers by revoking berthing rights as their tickets are illegally being sold in a city park. In the past, EDC has tossed out one boat and suspended another for such violations. But now all the boats are back, as are the hawkers.

Solution: the Parks Department or the NYPD should issue summonses for illegal park vending and then expel any boats connected to the hawkers.