SoHo Art Vendors Face City Hall

Last year the police were hassling the art vendors in SoHo, something documented by Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics). Around the same time, word of an Alan Gerson-proposed bill to "deal with the problem" was getting out, and now the City Council proposal has arrived, leaving the artists on the defense.

The NY Post reports that "The council last week began considering limiting the number of art vendors to two per block on pedestrian-packed sidewalks such as the stretch of West Broadway in the artist-saturated neighborhood." Gerson's concern is that some of the streets are too congested, while the artists fear their First Amendment-protected free speech, "and the battle for our rights," hang in the balance. Not to mention their income.

They have compiled a video proposing that the BID (Business Improvement District) obstructs the sidewalks as well, with planters and trash cans, saying they "violate every section of the proposed new vending laws." Lederman even points out that in 2004 Lieutenant Robert D'Onofrio, commanding officer of the Manhattan South Peddler Task force, testified in Federal Court saying the planters were put up to obstruct the vendors.

From pg 31 of the Federal Court transcript:

THE COURT: And what is the point of the planters, if you know?

Lt. D'Onofrio: Well, my understanding is so the street vendors, will not put their carts or their tables on the sidewalk because they have to be at curb side.

On Friday, the artists held a protest outside of City Hall, and are planning to keep protesting. They have a website set up documenting their ongoing battle.

Do you think all SoHo art vendors have a right to be on the sidewalk? ( polls)

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on November 17, 2008 11:21 AM

Comments [rss]

SohoTimmy

Some important facts:

1. NONE of the "artists" or the other illegal vendors are reporting their income to the IRS or collecting sales taxes. Have you ever seen any of the vendors use receipts? Why should they get a free ride?

2. The "artists" are trying to make this an issue of the BIDs against the vendors. In the case of Soho I can tell you it's the local residents that are complaining.

3. The proposals DO NOT eliminate vending they simply say that you can't vend around things like subway entrances or set up so many stands that it creates a wall down a block.

DominantPrimate

None? Wrong; I have a NY tax ID, pay sales tax. "Free ride" better describes the manufacturing costs of retailers who depend almost exclusively on Chinese imports. Free ride also describes a few Chinese non artist vendors who compete with legitimate street artists by selling imported chinese art they did not create.

The merchant I set up across from, who is grateful to artists, says: "Without the artists SOHO would be another strip mall." He's thankful for every tour bus routed through SOHO, a neighborhood steeped in art history. Street art is a compliment to SOHO's economy not a threat.

In every neighborhood there are residents who complain. They are soulless conformists who would rather march than dance, they expect everyone to march with them or go away. Why did they chose to live in the land of opportunity, the land of the free? America needs to reclaim its brand. Do the last made in America goods really need to be hammered off the streets because of a few squeaky wheels? Artists are good, we are vigilant, we have a stake in keeping the area clean and crime free.

The streets of SOHO are a colosseum of ideas where artists live or die on the merit of their work. High SOHO rents make residence here laughable for artists who bet everything they have on their art. Now you hear SOHO is dead, any serious art collector knows Chelsea is where it's at. The power vacuum left by Warhol, Basquiat, Herring, keeps a few of us nostalgic yet ambitious types here. Small towns have the farmer, big cities, the artist. Keep it local. Keep it relevant. Underestimate what the street artist brings to the economy at your peril.

mocanlagunas

pashmina anyone? cheap...

I'm ok for artist selling on the street, but some (most) are basically regular businesses without having to pay rent.

kapusta

ok,ok I give up! you guys win. The constitution is not relevant, nor is Hitler. My apologies. What's important is who gets to make money off of public spaces. Currently I do. The B.I.D. proposals mean B.I.D. does, not me. This is unfair, but fuck me, I can go to hell in a boat.

thefacts

"B.I.D.'s illegal and anti-constitutional proposal will sterilize the streets of the public... much like Hitler sterilized Germany..."

For #1 to compare people who do not want peddlers selling schlock in front of their homes or businesses to Hitler and the Nazis trivializes the Holocaust and should be condemned.

It shows the mentality of the average street peddler. Shame on you.

Thespis

@1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_Hitlerum

We're talking about a content-neutral restriction on the time, place, and manner of speech, instituted in support of a substantial governmental interest (regulation of pedestrian traffic). That type of restriction is almost always constitutional.

On the other hand we have speech that is partially, if not primarily, commercial in nature (selling art). That type of speech enjoys lesser constitutional protection, and is routinely regulated (e.g. requiring business licenses for art galleries).

Put simply, this is not a violation of constitutional rights. It might (or might not) be nice to have more street artists selling their work -- and there are definitely arguments pro and con there. But they don't have a constitutional right to the space.

breaknight

SoHo is crowded for a number of reasons. Prince Street is a mess, but to blame it all on vendors isn't fair. They should shut Prince between Broadway and West Broadway to traffic on weekends.

Leave the vendors alone, they provide a nice atmosphere, and many of them (esp. in SoHo) have really interesting/unique stuff.

kapusta

B.I.D.'s objective is the removal of street venders and replacing them with cluttering planters and such. Of course, on the cluttering planters B.I.D. will sell advertising...let me spell it out...B.I.D. wants to make money off of a public space. As a street artist that's what I'm doing now. The difference is B.I.D.'s illegal and anti-constitutional proposal will sterilize the streets of the public... much like Hitler sterilized Germany...