FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (October 20, 1997):
provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET
What's Wrong with The E.C.B.?
We members of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) are here today to protest the City's use of this so-called "court" to illegally harass, intimidate and violate the rights of artists, vendors and other honest, hardworking small business people. If you've had the misfortune of dealing with this "court" before you already know that justice, constitutional law and simple common sense will not be found here. The judges and other employees of this "court", while decent people, have only one assignment: to obtain your money. Determining actual guilt or innocence has no place here. If in a moment of conscience they slip up and find you not guilty or exhibit a bit of leniency, they risk losing their jobs.
Why do we claim this court to be a scam?
1. There are no court appointed lawyers to represent defendants. Since it makes little sense to spend $500 on an attorney in order to beat a $25-$250 summons, most people represent themselves or just plead guilty and send in a check. Not surprisingly, almost all defendants are found guilty after their trial regardless of the facts.
2. Defendants are never advised of their rights. Most are coerced into incriminating themselves in order to speed up the process of finding them guilty and collecting their fine. No defense lawyer in a real court would ever allow the questions defendants are asked by the E.C.B. "judges".
3. You must pay your fine to appeal a guilty verdict.
4. Appeals judges are employees of the same court. They are under more pressure than the judges to find you guilty.
5. A majority of the defendants are immigrants, speak little English and have no understanding of the law, yet the court has no interpreters.
6. You won't find Donald Trump, or other wealthy campaign contributors in this court, yet their properties and businesses create real environmental problems. While our power-addicted Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, continues to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax write-offs to real estate interests that kick back a portion of the money as political contributions, the average New Yorker is left to pay the bill. We, the small business persons and entrepreneurs of New York City, are here to pay for unjustified tax write-offs for billionaire's and multi-national corporations.
Even worse, this "court" is being used as a form of social control. We street artists spent the past four years fighting for our constitutional rights. At the request of real estate interests such as The Fifth Avenue Association, The 34th Street Partnership, The Grand Central Partnership, The SoHo Alliance, The Alliance for Downtown New York, The Madison Avenue B.I.D. and The Times Square B.I.D. (all Giuliani supporters) the City illegally arrested more than five hundred street artists, destroyed their art, denied them due process in Manhattan Criminal court and ultimately, dismissed every case in order to avoid being found in contempt of the U.S. Constitution. These real estate interests unjustifiably believe street artists are "competition". Being gangsters, they want all competition (i.e. artists, vendors etc.) eliminated from the city's streets and parks. In June of this year we artists finally won a major Federal lawsuit against Mayor Giuliani and the City. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Giuliani's bizarre appeal of our case and in no uncertain terms told the Mayor, "Stop Harassing Artists! Stop Violating Free Speech!"
What did our First Amendment trashing Mayor do?
He ordered the police to give out hundreds of E.C.B. summonses to artists instead of illegally arresting them. The majority of these summonses are invalid based on the laws of the City of New York let alone the U.S. Constitution, but that isn't the point. The purpose of these summonses is to threaten, intimidate and harass artists into leaving the street in order to satisfy his backers in the real estate industry. Having to spend a day in this court is itself a form of cruel and unusual punishment. The Mayor and those he takes orders from mistakenly believe that we street artists will give up our struggle if they just apply enough pressure. They are wrong.
Unlike some vendors, we don't run away from the police. Instead, we will obediently come to this "court" as a group when the police give us summonses. We will make speeches, leaflet the other victims of the Mayor's injustice and exercise our rights of free speech, freedom of assembly and non-violent protest. We are here by "invitation" so to speak, and like good guests, we must always respond to an invitation.
We welcome you to join us in our protest and to make your own public statement about the abuses you are suffering at the hands of the Mayor, this "court" and the police. We are not here to delay your trial or obstruct the smoothly operating wheels of injustice. Be assured, your abuse by the system will proceed as scheduled. We are simply here to deliver a message to the Mayor, his supporters and the City bureaucracy.
Mr. Mayor, you have the weight of government, an army of police and the support of the City's elite behind you. We, on the other hand, merely have justice, the U.S. Constitution and a stubborn resistance to being crushed by thugs like you. You still seem to need a lesson in artist power. We understand that you hope to go on to higher office and apply your brand of jack booted abuse on a national level. Get off our backs or we will make you the most famous enemy of art in the history of the world and your next term as Dictator of New York may turn out to be your political undoing.
For more information on A.R.T.I.S.T call: Robert Lederman (718) 369-2111; E-mail: ARTISTpres@aol.com To read our court case and other releases about this issue visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web site at:
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html