2/16/98

Letter to the Parks Commissioner - Artist Restrictions

by Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics).


provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET


To: Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern (212) 360-1305; Thomas Rozinski, General Counsel Parks Department (212) 360-1314; William Leurs, President Metropolitan Museum of Art (212) 570-3900; Ashton Hawkins, Legal Counsel Metropolitan Museum of Art (212) 570-3936; Central Park Conservancy (212) 315-0385

Gentlemen,

With all due respect, the members of A.R.T.I.S.T. after meeting this past Friday and discussing the Parks Department's plan to issue 24 artist permits in front of the Metropolitan Museum beginning March 1st, and to arrest, confiscate art from or issue summonses to artists not having the permit, have resolved the following:

1. We will not apply for the permit.

2. We will continue to create, display and sell our art in front of the museum in an orderly, equitable first come first served basis as we have peaceably done based on First Amendment freedom, for many years.

3. We will, as necessary, picket the Museum and the Arsenal and engage in other acts of non-violent civil disobedience to protest the Parks Department's and Central Parks Conservancy's repeated attempts to violate our Constitutional rights.

4. As necessary, we will file a lawsuit charging, among other things, that the Parks Department/Central Park Conservancy is acting in contempt of the 2nd circuit's ruling in Bery v. City of New York and Lederman et al v. City of New York.[see, "entire text of the decision" http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html]

5. We will bring members of A.R.T.I.S.T. from throughout New York City to the front of the museum and make that location the new political center of our struggle.

A demonstration and press conference has been scheduled for February 24th at 9:30 A.M. in front of the Arsenal (Fifth Avenue and 64th St.) to begin the campaign of resisting this new policy. We are willing to meet with you, at any time between now and the 24th, to attempt to resolve this issue.

Sincerely Yours,

Robert Lederman


Stop Giuliani's War on Street Artists

Mayor Giuliani and the Parks Department have turned Central

Park over to an elite group of millionaires, the Central Park

Conservancy. The Conservancy thinks Central Park is their

private club and the Metropolitan Museum is their private

clubhouse. They want to get rid of the artists who have

peacefully and equitably created, displayed and sold their art in

front of the Metropolitan Museum, based on First Amendment

freedom, for many years.

The street artist issue, in case you are not familiar with it,

is as follows:

>From 1993 until 1997 New York City illegally arrested more

than 500 artists, confiscated their art (paintings, photographs,

limited edition prints and sculptures) and either destroyed the

art or sold it at a Police Department auction. All of the artists

were charged with not having a vending license, which the City

admitted in court it never issued to artists. Not one artists' case

was ever brought to trial.

We've obtained internal memos from the D.A.'s office that

prove that the City never intended to prosecute these cases due

to the fact that visual art and artists are protected by the First

Amendment. In 1994 we filed a Federal lawsuit against the

City, Mayor Giuliani and the Parks Department. The

Metropolitan Museum of Art was the only major N.Y.C. art

museum that refused to support artists' First Amendment rights

in this lawsuit. We won the suit in 1997 after Mayor Giuliani's

cert petiton was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. The result

is that now, based on First Amendment freedom, artists are not

required to have a vending license or permit anywhere in the

City.

Parks Department violates its agreement launches

new attack on artists' rights

During the course of the lawsuit we negotiated with

Commissioner Stern, Thomas Rozinski (Parks legal counsel)

and the Metropolitan Museum resulting in them allowing artists

to continue setting up in front of the Met, without police

harassment. The agreement we had was that, if we won the case,

they'd respect our First Amendment rights.

Now, just as the Central Park Conservancy officially takes over

the park [see "Management of Central Park Going Private"

N.Y. Times 2/12/98; "Central Park's Going Private", Daily

News 2/12/98], a new plan is begun requiring these artists to

compete in an unconstitutional lottery for one of twenty four

permits. Anyone who does not get the permit will face

summonses, arrest and confiscation of their art. This policy is

blatantly in contempt of the 2nd circuit's ruling and First

Amendment freedom.

The real agenda of Mayor Giuliani, The Parks Department and

The Central Park Conservancy is to get rid of the street artists

and set up a system of very high priced souvenir, Nike, Disney

etc. concessions in front of the Met and throughout the park.

That artists can set up there now for free, based on First

Amendment freedom, makes implementing such a plan difficult.

Show your support for street artists, for the First

Amendment and for keeping this park public by

joining the ONE CENT PROTEST:

The real admission price at the Metropolitan

Museum is not $8.00. Because the Museum

receives funds from the City, you can go in for as

little as a one cent donation. We ask that you only

give the Museum one cent as a protest against their

policy of violating artists' First Amendment rights.

To express your protest against their anti-street artist policy

call: The Department of Parks, (212) 360-1305;

The Metropolitan Museum (212) 570-3900; The Central Park

Conservancy (212) 315-0385

"Freedom of Speech must be the most

important of freedoms, for if I were

stripped of all others, I could use this one to

win them back." Daniel Webster

*Demonstration and press conference to

protest the anti-artist policy

2/24/98 Tuesday, Feb. 24th at 9:30 A.M.

at the Arsenal, Fifth Ave. and 64th St.

(near the zoo) [rain, snow or sunshine, take

#6 train to 68th St.]

Information:

Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T.(Artists: Response

To Illegal State Tactics) (718) 369-2111

E-Mail: ARTISTpres@aol.com

Read the 2nd circuit ruling at our web site:

http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html



For more info, contact: A.R.T.I.S.T. Ph: (718) 369-2111 or (212) 561-0877; Email <ARTISTpres@aol.com>; Web site http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html


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