For Immediate Release (1/29/98):
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998 6 P.M. at Cantor Film Festival #36 E. 8th St. All vendors and media are urged to attend!
Vendors: It's Time To Fight For Our Rights! by Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics)
provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET
The Problem: New York City's vendors are at a crossroads. The Giuliani Administration is rapidly moving forward with its agenda to completely eliminate all forms of street vending. The addition of hundreds of newly restricted streets, the withdrawal of licenses from vendors with four summonses and continuous police harassment will soon make legal vending virtually impossible. However, this pattern of blatant oppression also presents us with an opportunity. Under Giuliani, the City's vending policy has become so oppressive and illegal that it is easier to challenge it in court and harder for the City to defend in court, in the media, or before the public.
Why Giuliani Is Escalating His War On Vendors? "Corporate Police State" Giuliani is preparing to sign a twenty-year, billion dollar contract to build and maintain thousands of huge billboard-sized advertising kiosks disguised as bus shelters, pay toilets and newsstands. To make space for this so-called "Street Furniture" the City intends to eliminate First Amendment protected street artists and book vendors as well as food vendors, general vendors, disabled veteran vendors and hundreds of independent sidewalk newsstands. The City will not publicly admit that this is the reason they want to get rid of vendors, because the ad kiosks are extremely controversial. Instead, false issues of congestion, public safety and the physical appearance of vending displays and foodcarts are being presented in an organized campaign to discredit us. Ironically, these thousands of concrete and steel ad kiosks will cause the very congestion, safety problems and visual blight that the City now falsely blames on vendors.
Why Vendors Are Vulnerable To Giuliani's Attack? One reason that the City's thousands of vendors face such abuse is that we are not united. In the past those few vendors that did stand up fought for limited goals. Fighting just for our own spot, or for the block we work on or only for vendors that are in the same category as us won't attack the root of this problem. Many vendors mistakenly blame this crisis on other vendors rather than dealing with the real issue. To win this fight, every vendor first needs to understand who are enemy is, why they want to get rid of us and what they want to put in our place. This time rather than negotiate for a few streets, a few rule changes or a few licenses, we must attack and expose the entire anti-vendor policy.
Our goal should be a revised vending ordinance based on common sense and the civil rights guaranteed by the U.S. and New York State Constitutions, rather than one based on payoffs by the Mayor's wealthiest campaign contributors. Continuously exposing the truth about why Giuliani wants to get rid of us can become our greatest weapon in this fight.
Who Are Our Enemies? Too many vendors focus their anger on the cops enforcing the anti-vending policy. It's Giuliani that tells the police what to do on a daily basis, and in the slightest things. Giuliani takes his orders from Business Improvement Districts and certain real estate interests that paid for his re-election campaign. The City's war on vendors is not the result of the police having nothing better to do or because of complaints about vendors "congesting" sidewalks. These same real estate interests want to eliminate the competition in order to freely exploit the streets for themselves. They, the corrupt Street Vendor Review Panel and Giuliani are our real enemies.
What We Must Do To Win This War? To face a ruthless opponent like Rudy "Gestapo" Giuliani isn't easy but we have no choice if we intend to survive. In a war (and this is war) the normal activities that we are used to following may have to be altered. Sacrifices of time, money and commitment will be necessary. Acts of non-violent civil disobedience and defiance are called for. These include:
*Always displaying a protest sign on one's stand.
*Setting up on newly restricted streets as a protest.
*Handing out literature exposing the City's policy.
*Picketing Business Improvement Districts and City Hall.
*Chalking the sidewalks with anti-Giuliani slogans whenever there is police enforcement against vendors.
*Creating situations in which the media has to cover our story.
Defiance Is the Key To Our Freedom Rebellion against unjust laws is an American tradition and a Constitutional right. Defying the Vending Ordinance through non-violent civil disobedience, lawsuits and media campaigns is the only way to change it. No advocate can make this effort for us while we do nothing. We must take a share of the responsibility ourselves.
Begging our oppressors to not take away our rights shows weakness and encourages even more harassment. Before we can expect to successfully negotiate with this enemy we must give them an urgent reason to resolve this conflict. Until they feel that their own public image or political future is threatened they will not give us anything.
Street Vending Is the Origin of All Commercial Activity. To be against vending is to be against free enterprise. America is founded on the principles of free enterprise and freedom from government oppression. Historically, vendors and traveling merchants developed the world's cities and towns, created roads and spread culture, language and knowledge throughout the world. Ironically, some of our most vicious enemies, including certain members of the Fifth Avenue Association, began as pushcart vendors themselves.
In this nation which claims to be the land of opportunity for all, vending remains one of the last chances to start with nothing but hard work in order to create a bright future for ourselves and our children. This valuable resource must be preserved. The time for us to firmly resolve to fight back and win is NOW!
For more info, contact: A.R.T.I.S.T. PH: (718) 369-2111 or (212) 561-0877; E-mail <ARTISTpres@aol.com>; Web site http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
PLEASE Copy This Webpage and Give It To Every Vendor You Know