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January 27, 2003
ARTIST Street Rally
Press Conference
and
City Council Public Hearing

by Robert Lederman
robert.lederman@worldnet.att.net
Posted: January 1, 2003

Press conference,
street artist rally
and public hearing on
INTRO # 160
January 27th, 2003 at NY City Hall

11:30 AM Street artist rally
and press conference
outside City Hall
(Rain or Shine)
1PM Public hearing inside City Hall

Contact: Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. 201 896-1686 cell phone 201 952-2127
City Council Legislative Counsel, Gary Altman 212 788-7210

The City Council has announced a public hearing for Intro # 160, a proposed new law aimed at taking away the rights of the City's street artists and book vendors. This law is sponsored by NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Although it specifically targets artists and book vendors, if passed into law Intro # 160 could mean the loss of every New Yorkers freedom of speech on public property. Intro # 160 allows the City to create a permit for street artists and book vendors and to arbitrarily limit our numbers. Once there is an artist-permit requirement in NYC Parks, the City will extend the same law to the streets. If passed into law Intro # 160 would eliminate most NYC street artists.

WHO ELSE WILL INTRO # 160 AFFECT?
Laws have to be equally enforced in order to stand up in court. The City intends to expand this limitation on freedom of speech to everyone on public property. This law could also mean the end of your existing right to freely hand out literature, make a speech, protest or otherwise express one's ideas on the street or in parks without permission, approval or a permit.

Free speech needs no permit. The US Constitution is the only permission we need to express ourselves on public property. It says the government shall make NO law restricting freedom of speech. The NY State Constitution gives an even greater degree of freedom. According to many rulings by the US Supreme Court, streets and parks are time-honored public forums, the places where we are to have the greatest degree of freedom. In these public forums the sale of protected materials is also protected. Numerous legal precedents - including those in the ARTIST lawsuits - specifically protect the sale of art and books on streets and in parks without needing a permit or license.
Despite these ruling we remain subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions that already abundantly exist in the vending law. Intro # 160 negates City Council local law # 33 passed in 1982, which created an exemption from any license or permit for written matter vendors in parks or on the street, based on freedom of speech. This 1982 law was a key part of street artists being granted the same First Amendment protection as book vendors in the A.R.T.I.S.T. group's lawsuits. Bery et al v City of NY /Lederman et al v City of NY struck down the vending license requirement in 1996; Lederman et al v Giuliani / Bach et al v City of NY struck down the artist-permit in 2001.
[See: NY Times 6/3/97 "SoHo Street Artists Triumph As High Court Rebuffs City" and NY Times 8/11/2001 "Judge Bans Permit Requirement For Art Vendors"]. JUST SAY NO TO # 1-6-0! Street artist information and Federal Court rulings (1998-2002) (this site has the text of Intro # 160) 1994-1998)

THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK CITY HALL NEW YORK, NY 10007
Robert Lederman via e-mail
January 7, 2003

Dear Mr. Lederman:
As you requested when we met in October, please be advised that the Committee on Parks and Recreation is holding a hearing on Int. No. 160 on January 27, 2003 at 1:00 PM in City Hall. As we informed you in October, this hearing does not mean the Council has taken any position on the Mayor's bill. This hearing is for the Committee to gather information and to hear testimony from all parties as to the merits of Int. No. 160. A formal initiation from the Speaker's office will follow shortly. Truly yours, Thomas H. Curry, Esq. Counsel, Committee on Parks and Recreation

FOR BACKGROUND ON THIS ISSUE SEE: NY Times 9/4/02 Commerce Rushes in Where Art Once Ruled NY Sun 1/8/03 To Vend Or Not To Vend NY Sun 12/24/02 City Is Planning New Rules For Vendors NY Sun 8/14/02 Parks Commissioner Planning a Crackdown On Venders of Artwork Christian Science Monitor 10/11/02 Artist dispute smudges New York - again NY Times 8/11/01 Judge Bars Permit Requirement for Art Vendors NY Post 8/11/2001Court: Permit Art Without Permit Newsday 8/11/2001 Judge: Street artists no longer have to buy vendor permits Newsday 3/2/98 Objections D' Art Newsday 2/26/98 Artistic Licenses NY Times 3/2/98 Artists Arrested in a Rally Opposing Permits NY Times 3/22/98 War of the Paintbrushes NY Times editorial 8/20/01 New York's Art Wars Continue NY Times editorial The Fight Over Street Art 3/4/98 N.Y. Post editorial 8/20/98 Free Speech Or Free Exhibition Space?

[Click Here for a Newsday story providing proof of what the Parks Department's real agenda is in terms of commercializing and privatizing NYC Parks]

To a Directory of Mr.Lederman's Essays

Robert Lederman is an artist, writer and activist and is also the President of the street artist advocacy group, A.R.T.I.S.T.
Click here for an archive of A.R.T.I.S.T. related news articles on the Freedom Forum website

His essays and Op-Eds have appeared in hundreds of alternative publications as well as the Daily News, Penthouse, Africa Sun Times, Street News and The Shadow.
Lederman was falsely arrested 41 times for his anti-Giuliani activities and was never convicted of any of the charges. As a result of the arrests, he's won four Federal lawsuits and overturned three laws.
He is best known for having created hundreds of paintings of Mayor Giuliani as a Hitler like dictator which were carried in demonstrations throughout the eight years of the Giuliani administration. Images of his paintings and articles about his arrests and lawsuits have appeared on all of the major television networks hundreds of times as well as frequently appearing in the NY Times, Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, Newsweek, People, The Washington Post, LA Times and NY Magazine.

Robert Lederman,
President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics)
robert.lederman@worldnet.att.net

For a detailed exposition on the West Nile issue
http://www.nospray.org/
For an article on the Manhattan Institute go to
http://www.konformist.com/2000/rudyg.htm

If you would like to help oppose the spraying,
please write to the
No Spray Coalition
PO Box 334
Peck Slip Station
NYC, NY 10272-0334
or call the No Spray hotline at (718) 670-7110.

Any funds you can send to help continue the lawsuit
and this work are greatly appreciated.

Important Note:
Mr. Lederman has explained that his articles posted here are not to be taken as official statements by the No-Spray Coalition of which he is a member or of the "No-Spray" lawsuit in which he is a plaintiff.

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