yes, by ghouliani haters.posters pamphlets are freespeech, art is free speech, its a civil right.

if hes required to have a tax id, he does thats estbalished, you dont have to show your returns.

i burn the flag, i thank those that die to defend that right. anybody wants to you tube it, ill spit on it, wipe my butt and then burn it...thanks civil rights are a cool thing.

Headline: "Parks Dept. Promises No More Artist Arrests On High Line"

Question: for anything? Awesome!!

Potsmoker, comparing civil rights heroes to what Lederman is doing is without question the dumbest thing that's ever been written on this blog. It's also incredible disrespectful to the people who gave their lives for our rights.

No one is saying that "artists" can't sell their work. What people are saying is that the City should put some reasonable limitations on where they are selling. In addition, no one should be able to decide not to pay taxes. Just because you are an "artist" doesn't mean you get a free ride.

ever seen Lederman's table? plenty of posters, pamphlets, but few actual artworks for sale?.

i'd also like to know if his Giuliani-as-Hitler painting got any buyers.

All New Yorkers should applaud this hero. He's protecting your freedom of speech. You lazy cubicle banker rats are the leeches. Go Lederman!

hey devils advocate, theres no court decided right to walk through the park without having crap hawked.

the reality is the NYC Parks Dept is more than willing to rent space to coporations to set up temporary kiosks for homedepot or glidden paint with a required "donation"

sure hes an attention whore but its a first ammendment right, so when a first ammendment right issue is at hand, ask yourself a simple question,

voting is a right, imagine yourself voting, make it more difficult, say your black and its 1963 in the south.

you get stopped by the cops and arrested, lots of people will say well if he wasnt being black and walking around our southern white enclave trying to disrupt the status quo by trying to vote, he wouldnt have any problems.

now fast forward to 2010, theres no more of that in this country, and a black guy has a right to walk into any town and vote for his choice of candidate.

thats what Lederman wants, the right to be left alone.

now hes left alone, thats the point he was trying to make, its not about taxes, space, clutter or commercialism, its about exercizing a right to sell art in the park and on the street. and nyc and nypd fails every time to his financial benefit, thats not his fault.

again mr. lederman CONGRATS, ive followed your work since you hawked ghouliani paintings with the hitler mustache! i loved the cage protests and i support the right for artists to sell their work.

The highline is a pretty narrow space, I think they should limit the amount of crap hawkers for safety's sake since the highline itself is dangerous enough with the sidewalk bricks that trip everyone that goes near it.

excellent work, congrats Mr. Lederman.

Can I play Devil's Advocate for a second? What about our right to walk through a park without having crap hawked at us? The southern edge of Central Park is a total nightmare for just this reason. Every inch of this city is covered with someone trying to sell something. It would nice to have a break from it occasionally. Parks are supposed to b an oasis of quiet from all this nonsense.

Sorry MT but last time I checked, the "right to walk through a park without having crap hawked at us" is not a constitutional right. Freedom of speech is.

Yes, but the pursuit of happiness is and it would make me - and presumably a lot of other people - happy if people like this douchebag were banned altogether.

How are "freedom to sell" and "freedom of speech" the same?

If this guy were displaying these things, but not offering them for sale, there'd be no problem.

"How are "freedom to sell" and "freedom of speech" the same?"

Simple: "commercial speech" is still protected speech. As long as it's not deceptive or promoting something illegal there are only limited ways in which the government can restrict it. That is, it can be more restricted than political speech can, but basically any regulation has to advance a substantial public or government interest and must be the most limited means available to do so.

There's plenty of case law since that determination was made by the Supreme Court in the 1980s that establishes exactly what that means... as the City's attorney's obviously have now accepted.

Then why don't they remove all the commercial vendors as well?

Lederman is a total leech. He is a resident of NJ and there is no evidence that he pays any sales or income taxes to New York City or State on his sales. Many people have demanded that he produce his tax records and he has consistently refused to do this.

NYC Department of Finance are you listening? Check your records and start an enforcement proceeding.

Wouldn't it be too bad if Lederman "accidentally" tripped on the High Line's infamous hazards and went over the side?

If I see him up there, it won't be an accident.

you are correct.

And furthermore, Lederman LIVES for this kind of attention (Google him)--this is not some kind of random innocent artist who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got unjustly singled out by the cops. He is constantly in some kind of legal battle with the city over his "violated rights". I swear, this guy must SEEK OUT places where he thinks he will get harassed by the police.

He may be both a leech and an attention whore. But these facts are irrelevant to the fact that what the Parks Dept did was illegal. It's illegal whether they do it to guys like Lederman or other "nice" vendors.

Laws and rights don't lose power just because the guy in question is a dick.

Amen to that. Lederman is an attention whore, but he is a smart attention whore. He is almost always on the right side of the law. If the city would just learn its lesson and stop harassing him, they'd save a lot of money, and a lot of trouble.