Jeffery C. Mays and Derek M. Norman

Baldwin, known to have a fiery temper, has gotten into well-publicized spats about on-street parking, opined about how the city is becoming a “mismanaged carnival of stupidity” and got outraged after receiving a summons for riding his bicycle the wrong way on Fifth Avenue. He has even threatened to leave New York.

So it was only natural that when Baldwin, his wife and children bought tickets for a Statue of Liberty boat tour that would not actually go to the statue — but would, in fact, involve a bus trip to New Jersey — he did what most New Yorkers would do: gripe.

“Two sharp, savvy NYers. Kids in tow. We buy the tickets for the ‘boat tour’ of the Statue of Liberty. We are escorted to a shuttle bus. To New Jersey!” Baldwin said on Instagram to his 1.2 million followers.

“I kid you not,” he continued. “This is a scam.”

But unlike most New Yorkers’ complaints, Baldwin’s gripes about the ticket sellers at Battery Park garnered immediate attention — and, coincidentally or not, action from the city.

On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would expand enforcement of the companies that “mislead tourists and operate buses to tours in New Jersey without permits.”

It has been a persistent problem. In 2016, after investigating ticket-selling practices near Battery Park, the New York Police Department arrested 21 vendors and charged them with fraud. In May, the National Park Service banned organized tours at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration and the Statue of Liberty’s outdoor observation deck to deal with “mounting overcrowding.”

The Department of Transportation on Tuesday sent cease and desist letters to Freedom Cruises and Sphinx Transport, two companies that the city said were operating illegal bus stops. Attempts to reach the companies for comment were unsuccessful.

Only one company, Statue Cruises, is allowed to take visitors to Liberty Island. But that has not deterred rival companies — some licensed, some not — from selling tickets that only provide views of the Statue of Liberty from the water.

De Blasio denied that the crackdown was linked to Baldwin’s complaints, although city officials said they decided to release details of their enforcement efforts after receiving “increased media inquiries” about Baldwin’s encounter.

“Is that driving our enforcement at Battery Park? No,” the city’s police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said Tuesday, during an unrelated news conference at the police training headquarters in Queens.

Laura Feyer, a spokeswoman for de Blasio, said, “Mr. Baldwin brought increased attention to the issue tourists and visitors face every day, and our agency partners are continuing to work together until this problem is a thing of the past.”

Feyer said the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection heard a proposed rule change in September that would require companies to disclose the precise destination of the tour on their tickets; in addition, the Economic Development Corp. no longer allows boats who sell tickets via street vendors to use city-controlled docks.

On Tuesday, however, the absence of unauthorized ticket vendors in Battery Park hawking boat rides to the Statue of Liberty was noticeable.

Signs in front of Castle Clinton, where official tickets are sold, and immediately in front of the Bowling Green subway station, warned visitors that the “illegal vendors” selling tickets in Battery Park are “not authorized” to do so. A police cruiser was posted just outside the subway station.

“We talked to the police about the issues we have every day with these illegal vendors,” said Marco Bedoya, 50, a manager of Statue Cruises, the official tour company.

But he was not optimistic about the effectiveness of the city’s latest crackdown. “This happened before,” Bedoya said. “And I bet in a few weeks, they’ll come back in the park. It’s just a battle constantly.”

The focus on illegal vendors has made it difficult for some of the licensed companies that offer harbor tours around the Statue of Liberty.

Ivan Guels, a 30-year-old employee of Liberty Cruise, said Baldwin’s remarks had stigmatized all the vendors who sell tickets for the tour companies.

“People don’t want to talk to us because they feel we are going to scam them,” he said. “But this is legit, we pay taxes, we clock in and out.”

The tour company that sold Baldwin his tickets has a one-star rating after 250 reviews on TripAdvisor. But his ticket, which he posted on Instagram, informs buyers that they will “see NY from the Water,” and it suggests that Liberty Park, New Jersey, is the place of embarkation.

The company could not be reached for comment.

After complaining about his ticket purchase, Baldwin engaged in something else that New Yorkers like to do: He advised people to take the Staten Island Ferry, which offers a free view of the statue.

“It’s the best ride in NY,” he said.

This article originally appeared in

Alec Baldwin Gripes About Tour Boat 'Scam,' and NYC Cracks Down

NEW YORK — Alec Baldwin considers himself a consummate, “savvy” New Yorker, and like most, he is not exactly bashful about expressing his views.

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Jeffery C. Mays and Derek M. Norman

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Alec Baldwin Gripes About Tour Boat 'Scam,' and NYC Cracks Down