NYCLU: New City Restrictions May Run Afoul of the First Amendment

The New York Civil Liberties Union has come out in support of New York City art vendors and urged the NY City Parks Dept to “reconsider its proposal to restrict the number and location of vendors at several city parks on the grounds that the City has not made enough information public to allow for a determination of if the proposed rules run afoul of the First Amendment.”

“Parks have historically been recognized as vitally important for social, artistic and political expression,” said NYCLU Legal Director Arthur Eisenberg. “The Parks Department should make every effort to accommodate our city’s artists, poets and authors. It must withdraw its proposal until it can publicly demonstrate it is meeting its First Amendment obligations.”

In a letter sent Friday afternoon to Alessandro G. Olivieri, general counsel to the Department of Parks & Recreation, Eisenberg and NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman outlined three concerns regarding the proposed vendor restrictions:

• That the Parks Department has “failed utterly” to make public data demonstrating that its proposal is reasonable and leaves open ample alternatives;
• That a first-come, first-served system for getting vendor space runs the risk that a few vendors and their agents will obtain more than their fare share of sites for more than their fair share of time;
• And that any restrictions placed should be tailored to their communities as the residents of Greenwich Village, where Union Square Park is located, “can tolerate a level of disorder and energy” that residents near Central Park may object to.

NYCLU’s letter can be read here (PDF format).  ARTIST president Robert Lederman, who is leading the protest campaign to inform the public of their position against the new City Park restrictions, commented, “Needless to say, when the #1 advocacy group for First Amendment rights comes out against the Parks Department and for our side, it is a very good development!” Lederman has also commented on media bias against art vendors.

Tags: art as expression, Art Law, civil liberties and art, protest and the first amendment, public space and art