NY Post Still Attacking Artists and Vendors
Freedom Fighter
For the past eight years the NY Post has viciously attacked street artists
on behalf of Giuliani and the BIDs (Business Improvement Districts). Eight
editorials and op-eds not to mention numerous negatively-slanted news
articles were published between 1994 and 2001 denouncing the ARTIST group I
head, our lawsuits against Giuliani (all of which we've won), our lawful
protest activities and the judges who ruled in our favor.
Since the 9/11 attack the Post has published a barrage of negative articles
about vending often containing ethnic slurs ("money grubbing", "leeches"
etc. ) which feature carefully selected photos of Arab and Islamic immigrant
vendors. Many of these vendors are shown selling art. Beyond the ugly ethnic
and racial angle the Post is known for, these articles are intended to bash
street artists and art vendors.
Take today's Post article below (1/13/2002) as a perfect example of what I
mean.
While the text about the sale of NYPD and FDNY logo merchandise does not
mention one word on art, art vendors or artists the accompanying photo on
the Post website is solely of an art vendor. From the photo it is clear that
this man is selling art and has no merchandise containing an NYPD or FDNY
logo. Nevertheless, it's unlikely that many Post readers will consciously
realize the purpose of including this photo. All they will remember is the
negative association that the Post intends to make between street artists
and exploiting the 9/11 tragedy.
While the ARTIST group does not support or condone anyone exploiting the WTC
tragedy, we feel that the Post's almost daily attacks on these vendors is
hypocritical in the extreme. It's real purpose is stirring up a sense of
public hatred towards artists and vendors. No differently from the vendors
described in these articles, the Post and it's affiliated TV network, FOX,
have shamelessly exploited the 9/11 attack for profit each and every day.
They feature a steady stream of exploitative pieces about the NYPD and FDNY
victims and families that are meant to sell newspapers and advertising time.
Meanwhile, they have yet to publish a single story on the criticism Mayor
Giuliani has received from the NYPD and FDNY unions about his part in
building a viewing platform for tourists, directly obstructing the WTC
investigation, destroying the evidence from it or his failure to provide
rescue workers with proper safety equipment.
There are no Post exclusives exposing Giuliani's false claims that there are
no health problems associated with the dust and gasses still escaping from
the site. While publishing hundreds of articles about FDNY and NYPD funerals
featuring Mayor Giuliani, there's no mention of the deep resentment these
men and women feel towards him for keeping their salaries artificially low
while claiming so much credit for the heroic work they do. During his eight
years in office Giuliani gave tens of millions of dollars in tax write-offs
to the NY Post but couldn't find the money to provide the FDNY with up to
date safety equipment.
Like the vendors described in this series of attack articles the Post does
not contributes a percentage of the sale of each newspaper to either the
police or fire department nor did they get anyone's permission to use their
logos to help sell newspapers. Immigrant vendors from the middle east sell
the NY Post on the exact same downtown Manhattan sidewalks where immigrant
artists and vendors struggle to earn a living.
The viewing platform Mayor Giuliani ordered built for tourists at ground
zero after three months of restricting the area to real New Yorkers and the
media is itself a gross commercialization of a tragedy. Tickets for the
viewing platform are offered at only one location - the South Street
Seaport - one of the City's main tourist attractions. The Downtown Alliance
BID even promotes a ground zero disaster tour complete with a "happy hour",
shopping coupons and discounts to Broadway shows.
Tourists who think they are supporting the FDNY or NYPD by buying a souvenir
with a logo - regardless of it being "official" or not are kidding
themselves. The FDNY and NYPD have funds for the victims that will be glad
to take a direct donation with all the funds going directly to the surviving
families. Wearing a logo is about showing your friends back home that you
went someplace. And if someone really wants to support the FDNY how about
supporting their getting proper safety equipment before the next disaster
happens?
The ultimate irony of the Post's eight years of vicious attacks on street
artists is that sidewalk and newspaper vending box sales of the Post are
protected by the exact same laws that govern street artists. Based on the
First Amendment freedom shared by artists since we've won our lawsuits, the
Post pays nothing to the City for their unlicensed sidewalk vendors or for
the right to install thousands of steel newspaper vending boxes on the same
public property where artists sell their works - including the areas at
ground zero and in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that the Post
features in it's anti-street artist campaign.
The freedom that allows a newspaper like the Post to publish their
politically-slanted, corporate-biased and often racially-bigoted version of
the "news" is this nation's greatest resource. How the Post or vendors
choose to use this freedom is a matter of personal responsibility. When will
the Post admit that this freedom is shared by everyone not just by those
connected to their corporate club?
Robert Lederman
President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics)
robert....@worldnet.att.net
http://baltech.org/lederman/
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
----------------
NY Post
POLICE SWEEPING THE SIDEWALKS FOR LOGO LEECHES AT GROUND ZERO
By BRUCE FURMAN and BRIDGET HARRISON
-photo removed so that this can be sent without an attachment. To see the
photo go to
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/38766.htm
January 13, 2002 -- The cops are putting the lid on street vendors hawking
unofficial NYPD and FDNY merchandise at ground zero.
Cops have beefed up their presence to enforce stricter peddler regulations
and are gearing up to start seizing counterfeit merchandise, officials said
yesterday.
The get-tough approach seems to be working.
Vendors, out in force downtown yesterday, were grumbling that the stricter
enforcement - coupled with tourists who are starting to turn away from the
counterfeit merchandise - is hurting sales.
"I'm hardly selling nothing," said street vendor Andrew Hawkins, set up
yesterday outside Trinity Church on Broadway. "The cops have been moving us
on, three or four times a day, and the people aren't buying the products
now."
He said on a normal Saturday he'd take in $600, but yesterday he made only
$200.
Cops began a crackdown on vendors shamelessly hawking their wares after The
Post highlighted the disrespectful trade near the Twin Towers disaster site.
Many vendors are capitalizing on the tragedy and selling counterfeit
merchandise that includes the logos of the Police and Fire departments.
Proceeds from licensed merchandise go to charity, while sales of the phony
items only line the pockets of vendors and suppliers.
While cops have cracked down by checking vendors licenses and issuing
tickets to violators, they haven't yet started confiscating phony-logo
merchandise.
They're waiting for a legal finding from the NYPD's law office to set ground
rules for grabbing fakes.
Hawkins, a Vietnam vet, has a street-vendor license but sells unofficial
NYPD and FDNY baseball hats, woolly hats and headbands.
He said the cops should be focusing on the unlicensed street vendors, not
people like him who were just trying to make a living.
Dozens of other vendors were set up along Broadway, Fulton Street and Maiden
Lane yesterday, but few tourists lining up for a peek at ground zero were
buying the goods.
One visitor said he bought a fake FDNY baseball cap but threw it away and
purchased a genuine one from an official Fire Department source.
"At first it didn't cross my mind," said Bill Lukashok, 44, a Manhattan
real-estate investor. "My primary aim was to show my support for what
happened down here. But then I decided the right thing to do would be to buy
a proper one.
"The companies who make the products the street vendors sell should be made
to make a donation to the Sept. 11 charities. Otherwise they are getting a
windfall based on monumental tragedy, which is not right."
Dave Marchione, 33, a Florida businessman said he made a special trip to the
Ladder 15 fire-house at the South Street Seaport to buy an official FDNY
hat.
Although his cost was $15 - $10 more than for the fake ones - he said the
purchase was worth it.
"I think the trade is terrible," he said. "These people defended out
freedom. Why would you buy a hat from a vendor when you can give money to
the people who deserve it?"
"For the second time in two years, The New York Post has received large tax
breaks and other subsidies from city and state officials after threatening
to move some of its operations out of New York City. Officials have granted
the newspaper $24.4 million in incentives to build a new printing plant on
17 acres at a rail yard in the South Bronx." - NY TIMES 7/21/98
Truth Detector
"Freedom Fighter" <lib...@once.net> wrote in message
news:a1vga5$t4g$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...
Creedmoor Chronicles, Ltd. (Tirana, Albania)
> NY Post Still Attacking CON Artists and DRUG Vendors by Robert Lederman
Freedom, are you having trouble buying a new tin foil hat (with your food
stamps) to replace your old lice-infested model? I really feel sorry for
you, but why did they let you out of Creedmoor in the first place?
Ian
Freedom Fighter
in message news:a223qv$tdo8q$1...@ID-98143.news.dfncis.de...
< snip of malicious sicko babblings >
Congratulations, Ian!
You've earned an honored place in my KILLFILE, where several other
emotionally disturbed trolls will keep you company.
Maybe we'll all get lucky and you'll kill each other for the Prozac -
PLONK!
Creedmoor Chronicles, Ltd. (Tirana, Albania)
> < snip of malicious sicko babblings >
>
> Congratulations, Ian!
> You've earned an honored place in my KILLFILE, where several other
> emotionally disturbed trolls will keep you company.
> Maybe we'll all get lucky and you'll kill each other for the Prozac -
Now I know I'm doing something right. Prozac? I think you are long past that
stage. Keep your mind clean - with extra strength Thorazine!
Ian