In what is being billed as a revenue-raising opportunity for the Hudson River Park, there will be a V.I.P section at this year’s New York City Fourth of July fireworks (which are, yet again, on the Hudson River, disappointing all of Brooklyn and Queens). For $200, at least 500 customers will get the chance to sit at the end of Pier 84 and avoid the annual jostle for space. Profits will go back to the parks itself, and so the president of the Hudson River Park Trust, Madelyn Wils, defended the move from critics angry at the idea that a public park — which is mostly closed during the event — would be segmented off in such a way. “This is a very, very small amount of the whole, so this should not prevent anyone from being able to watch the fireworks,” she told the Times. Plus, capitalism! It’s like Jack Donaghy was asked to come up with the best way to celebrate America.
