For Immediate Release:
Giuliani Administration Appeals Street Artist Case to
U.S. Supreme Court

["An exhibition of paintings is not as communicative as speech, literature
or
live entertainment, and the artists' constitutional interest is thus
minimal".
Quoted from pg. 22 of N.Y.C.'s appeal brief to U.S. Supreme Court.]

New York may be the art capital of the world but the Giuliani
Administration
has zero tolerance for artists' First Amendment rights. City attorneys
filed
an appeal on 2/25/97 with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to reverse a
Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court ruling declaring that, "Paintings,
photographs, prints and sculptures, such as those appellants seek to
display
and sell in public areas of the City...are entitled to full First
Amendment
protection."

The Federal ruling had severely criticized the Giuliani Administration's
street
artist arrest policy, calling it "myopic" and, "unduly restricted" and
concluded that, "The City's requirement that appellants be licensed in
order
to sell their artwork in public spaces constitutes an unconstitutional
infringement of their First Amendment rights". The City's position, as
described in its legal briefs, is that visual art is unworthy of
Constitutional
protection; that sidewalk art displays encourage petty crime, litter and a
diminished quality of life; and that public displays of fine art are a
serious
threat to public health and safety.

The controversial arrest policy began in 1993 due to pressure from real
estate
interests led by the Fifth Avenue Association, the City's four most
powerful
Business Improvement Districts, the SoHo Alliance and City Council Member
for SoHo, Kathryn Freed. On 2/28/96 Freed and the real estate interests
filed
an amicus brief in Federal Court claiming, "The sale of artwork does not
involve communication of thoughts or ideas" and warning of, "the dangers
of
allowing visual art full First Amendment protection". Between 1993 and
1996
more than 400 New York City artists were handcuffed and arrested for
displaying or selling original paintings, photographs, sculptures and
limited
edition prints on the street. Not one artists' case was ever brought to
trial yet
the City systematically destroyed the thousands of works of art it
confiscated.


In 1994 members of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State
Tactics)
filed suit in Federal Court [95-9089 Lederman et al v. City of New York]
charging Mayor Giuliani and various Administration officials with
violating
their First Amendment right to speech and Fourteenth Amendment right to
equal protection. To show paintings on the street, artists were required
to get
a vending license which the City's own legal briefs candidly described as,
"unobtainable". At the same time the City allowed an unlimited number of
book, magazine and baseball card vendors to sell on the street without a
license or permit of any kind, based on First Amendment freedom.

A.R.T.I.S.T. president Robert Lederman, a plaintiff in the Federal suit
who
has been arrested thirteen times for selling his paintings, promises to
keep
showing his art on the street regardless of how the case finally turns
out.
"The City officials behind this policy support the cultural venues of
their
wealthy campaign contributors but they neither respect nor understand
artists,
culture or the U.S. Constitution", he said. "Mayor Giuliani and Council
Member Freed are attacking artists' rights to please the real estate
interests
that put them in office. If they prevail with this misguided policy before
the
Supreme Court this nation's artistic community will lose its present
freedom
to create, display and sell art".

For detailed information on the street artist Federal lawsuit or
A.R.T.I.S.T. visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web page at:
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html [It includes
contact #'s; a bibliography of newspaper articles; the case's rulings;
previous press releases; descriptions of arrests, etc.] or contact Robert
Lederman, [log in to unmask] (718) 369-2111 or (212) 334-4327 Press
kits, photos of arrests and demonstrations etc. available on request.

Office of the N.Y.C. Corporation Counsel (representing the City in the
appeal) (212) 788-0303 Leonard Koerner, Elizabeth Friedman, Robin
Binder attorneys.