2/16/98
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