Why Does New York City Still
Illegally Arrest, Harass and Persecute Street Artists?
The Answer Is B.I.D.s
(Business Improvement Districts)
By Robert Lederman,
President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists Response To Illegal State Tactics)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion;, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the government for a redress of grievances." -The First
Amendment
"A picture is worth a thousand words."
Ancient Chinese saying
Imagine standing on a city street viewing a sidewalk display of
paintings and discussing them with the artist. Suddenly, two
vans and a police car pull up. Twenty armed, bulletproof-vested
plainclothes cops jump out, surround the artist, place them in
handcuffs, confiscate all of the paintings and push the artist
into the van. When you ask what the problem is the police tell
you it s a quality of life operation, just shut up and keep
walking. Is this happening in China or Iraq? No, it s just a
typical day in New York City, the artist persecution capital of
the world.
Orchestrated by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New York is
undergoing a transformation in which image has become the key
factor in all governmental decisions. Achieving the public
perception of "quality of life", (though not necessarily the
reality) is the goal of City Hall's policies. Unfortunately, it's not
the average person's life quality the Giuliani administration
wants to improve.
Corporations and real estate interests, which provide most of
the funds for election campaigns and receive hundreds of
millions of dollars in unjustified tax-write offs, are viewed by
this administration as the rightful proprietors of the City s
public sidewalks, parks and streets. These business interests
view displays of art or street culture of any kind as a blemish
disfiguring the exclusive image and market value of their
property.
In order to exert total control over the public space adjacent to
their properties, New York City s business leaders have formed
unelected and unaccountable shadow governments or B.I.D.'s
(Business Improvement Districts) to run key areas of the City.
B.I.D.s are authorized to assess special taxes (more than $50
million last year), have their own police and sanitation services
(often paid less than the minimum wage) and are establishing a
self-administered court system in which to try quality of life
offenders more efficiently .
The Fifth Avenue and Times Square B.I.D.s, which dominate
the entire B.I.D. scheme, already operate a Community Court
on 54th Street to handle quality of life crimes committed
within their territory. Convicted defendants, or those coerced
into pleading guilty, are put to work within the B.I.D. doing
community service which generally consists of cleaning the
streets for the B.I.D.
Some B.I.D.s began sponsoring homeless outreach programs
after being accused of "hiring goon squads" to force homeless
people off the street [see 1995 City Council Investigation on
B.I.D.s]. Distinctions between businesses, the police, social
services and an impartial criminal justice system blur as they
become one continuous business enterprise. Many of the
B.I.D.s are managed by former high ranking New York City
police officials, providing the B.I.D.s with a unique level of
access to Police Department resources and personel.
Sidewalk art displays have been described by B.I.D. directors
as magnets for prostitution, three-card-monte gangs and
pickpockets. The reality is that the B.I.D.s own high-priced
stores, hotels and theatres catering to tourists are what attracts
these activities.
In the art and free speech capital of the world artists are being
demonized as "parasites" in order to justify ruthlessly
eliminating them from the streets. Previous to this policy,
sidewalk art displays were viewed as a cultural asset. New York
City actually advertised the presence of street artists in travel
magazines. The police were instructed not to arrest artists and
that a visual artist selling his or her own art didn't require a
license, based on First Amendment freedom of speech.
Beginning in the late 1980 s the City's B.I.D.s, led by the Fifth
Avenue Association, mounted a lobbying effort aimed at
eliminating all street vending. In 1993 artists displays were
unofficially recategorized as general vending and a license
suddenly became a requirement. Since the City Council had
previously frozen the total number of vending licenses at the
853 then in effect (none of which were in the hands of artists) a
license was, to quote legal briefs the City filed in Federal
Court, "impossible for artists to obtain". Artists throughout the
City began to be systematically handcuffed and arrested and
have their art confiscated for the "crime" of not having a license.
Fearing that an independent-minded judge might find such an
unreasonable licensing requirement for First Amendment
protected expression unconstitutional, the City meticulously
avoided prosecuting a single artists' case in Criminal Court.
None of the more than 500 artists arrested since 1993 have ever
had a trial or been found guilty of committing a crime. While
never convicted, artists rarely recovered their confiscated
paintings, which the City illegally sold at a monthly Police
Department auction or destroyed.
In 1994, members of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists Response To Illegal
State Tactics) filed a Federal lawsuit accusing Mayor Giuliani
and the City of violating their right to freedom of expression. In
response, five of the most powerful B.I.D.s filed an amicus brief
in Federal Court declaring visual art to be unworthy of First
Amendment protection.
The 30 page brief, signed by The Fifth Avenue Association, The
Alliance For Downtown New York, The Madison Avenue
B.I.D., The Grand Central Partnership, The 34th Street
Partnership and the SoHo Alliance claimed, "The sale of
artwork does not involve communication of thoughts or ideas"
and warned of, "the dangers of allowing visual art full First
Amendment protection". It went on to state, "An artists'
freedom of expression is not compromised by regulating his
ability to merchandise his artwork", and, "..the sale of
paintings and other artwork does not reach this high level of
expression (guaranteeing First Amendment protection)..."
Ironically, more than 95% of the City s art galleries and
museums are located within the areas controlled by The Fifth
Avenue Association, The Madison Avenue B.I.D.. and the
SoHo Alliance.
The agenda behind harassing street artists is not that the B.I.D.s
dislike art but that they view artists freedom of speech as a
legal obstacle in the overall process of cleansing and controling
their territory. By restricting constitutionally protected activities
they hope to wipe out all street culture and non-corporate
expression, leaving themselves a monopoly on expression in
public spaces.
Although the Giuliani administration claims that public safety
and the preservation of a visually uncluttered environment are
the justification for restricting artists the same administration
spent much of the past four years developing its controversial
Street Furniture Initiative. This exclusive twenty year contract
with a French based multi-national corporation involves
contructing thousands of advertising kiosks on sidewalks
throughout New York City. These sidewalk-congesting kiosks
will feature flashing lights, moving digital texts and huge
eye-level billboards, creating new hazards for pedestrians and
drivers while bringing the City billions in ad revenue. Not
surprisingly, B.I.D. members will be the prime clients for these
expensive new ad spaces.
To avoid negative press about their practice of blatantly
violating the Constitution, City officials have made a concerted
effort to suppress media coverage about the street artist issue.
They routinely deny that any arrests are made or art confiscated
despite the existence of extensive court records and hundreds of
photographs and videotapes. Reporters researching this issue
have been told that access to Police Department sources would
be permanently blocked if they continued to cover the artists'
story. Protest signs and petitions have been confiscated from
artist activists and artists have been arrested simply for handing
out literature or photographs documenting the arrests.
At the same time that the City was perpetrating its crackdown
on artists, corporations such as Nike, Disney, Sony, Macys,
Phillip Morris, Planet Hollywood and Chase Manhattan were
given unprecedented use of city streets and parks to promote
their corporate image and their latest products. In arguments
before the 2nd Circuit Federal Appeals Court, lawyers for the
City claimed that, "protection of business interests" was a prime
reason for preventing artists from showing art on the street. In
fact, that is their only reason.
Freedom of expression in the hands of the general public is
seen by many business interests as a threat. If the average
person is allowed to use the City s public spaces to
communicate, post a leaflet, advocate a cause, advertise or sell
their artwork it threatens the business communities monopoly
on these activities. Although politicians and corporations pay
lip service to free enterprise, freedom of speech and equal
opportunity, they are actively trying to deny these same rights to
the general public.
New York City based corporations and real estate interests
associated with the B.I.D.s contribute hundreds of millions of
dollars each year to the City s art museums, parks and cultural
institutions. The C.E.O. s of these companies sit on (and
usually control) the boards of the art museums. This kind of
cultural investment provides a unique public relations
opportunity for companies routinely accused of polluting the
environment, mistreating employees, engaging in political
corruption or selling products which cause disease and death.
Many of these business interests are the same people behind the
artist arrests, anti-free speech and privatization of public space
agendas. While they and the elected officials they control
condemn human rights abuses in China, Iraq or Cuba, they
promote similarly repressive policies applied to their fellow
citizens in the U.S. under the guise of "quality of life".
The First Amendment protects those who may not have money,
attorneys or friendly politicians to speak for them. It is the
average person s sole defense against government repression.
Any attempt by government or its corporate sponsors to
suppress this right must be denounced and resisted as if our
lives and freedom depended on it, because in fact, they do.
Although concerns about crime and sidewalk congestion have a
legitimate place in governmental decisions, real quality of life
depends on keeping our most basic human right intact and
unabridged: freedom of speech.
Contact # s
Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) For information, to
make a donation or to join A.R.T.I.S.T. call: (718) 369-2111 or
(212) 561-0877 e-mail [log in to unmask] or visit our web
site:
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
Photos and videos of arrests, art confiscations and
demonstrations are available for publication. We welcome all
artists to join us in the street and to help protect First
Amendment rights.
Other contact numbers:
Fifth Avenue Association (212) 736-7900
Fifth Avenue B.I.D. (212 ) 265-1310
Times Square B.I.D. (212) 768-1560
Madison Ave. B.I.D. (212) 861-2055
Alliance for Downtown N.Y. (212) 566-6700
Grand Central Partnership (212) 818-1777
N.Y.C. Corporation Counsel (attorneys representing the City)
(212) 788-0303
Mayor Giuliani's press office 212 788-2958
Peddler Task Force (212) 760-8305
Wayne Cross and Brett Goodman (attorneys for the
artist/plaintiffs (212) 259-8000.
***[see: N. Y. Times Metro section 11/12/97
More Curbs Sought on NYC Business
Improvement Districts ]
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