Several members of the financial district committee of Community Board 1 objected last night to proposed new regulations of the Department of Parks to reduce the permitted number of art and photo vendors at Battery Park City to nine from 100, according to an article by Julie Shapiro today at DNAinfo.com
"It seems like a dramatic cutback" and "the vendors are protected by the First Amendment to sell 'expressive matter,' including books and artwork," said Bill Love, a member of the board who belongs to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Parks Department, however, maintains that such vendors create a hazard by clogging paths and the city is also trying to limit the number of vendors in Union Square and the High Line.
The article said that Warrie Price, president of the Battery Conservancy, said the vendors are a nuisance and trample gardens and interfere with the public's enjoyment of the park spaces: "It's out of control. It's totally untenable the way it is now."
The article, however, noted that the vendors say they are a help, not a hindrance, adding that Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised several vendors as heroes this week after they alerted police to the smoking SUV in Times Square.
Some committee members proposed that art vendors be barred from the crowded paths near the Hudson River but allowed to set up elsewhere along the park's perimeter, the article said.
"It seems like a dramatic cutback" and "the vendors are protected by the First Amendment to sell 'expressive matter,' including books and artwork," said Bill Love, a member of the board who belongs to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Parks Department, however, maintains that such vendors create a hazard by clogging paths and the city is also trying to limit the number of vendors in Union Square and the High Line.
The article said that Warrie Price, president of the Battery Conservancy, said the vendors are a nuisance and trample gardens and interfere with the public's enjoyment of the park spaces: "It's out of control. It's totally untenable the way it is now."
The article, however, noted that the vendors say they are a help, not a hindrance, adding that Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised several vendors as heroes this week after they alerted police to the smoking SUV in Times Square.
Some committee members proposed that art vendors be barred from the crowded paths near the Hudson River but allowed to set up elsewhere along the park's perimeter, the article said.
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Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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