Here it is in a nutshell............ Yesterday at a special eight a.m. meeting the, St. Augustine Florida City Commission has banned ALL expressive activity in the nation's oldest public space the Plaza De La Constitucion and virtually all of downtown. The ban includes Constitutionally protected prints, paintings, sculpture, photography and printed materials. The junior assistant city attorney Robin Upchurch brought in six paid witnesses to meander on with irrelevant testimony. Five artists and perhaps 10 other supporters from the community ( merchants and residents) came out in favor of the artists and against this ordinance."Beana" Upchurch told the commissioners that county Judge Tinlin ruled in St. Augustine vs Travous, Sala, Chuites that the administration can permit all vendors ( costume jewelry, sunglasses, plants etc. ) or none. Tinlin did not rule this but the commissioners swallow this hook, line and sinker. Tinlin did rule in another case, St. Augustine vs Travous that the ordinance banning visual art from St. George St. was constitutional and in the previous case he was ruling specifically on the three artists and not making a general sweep. Frankly Judge Tinlin's decision was poorly written , rife with misspelling and bad grammar and if he did any research into the constitutional issue, it was not apparent.Some observations:
Police Corporal Cuthbert stated that cameras and undercover officers have been used to monitor the artists activities............Ain't that somethin'?A bunch of mainly middle aged folks doin our own peaceful creative thing is under surveillance. Oddly, there was nothing really in his report other than Suvos' empty lunch bag under his chair (Pick up yer stuff!)
Commissioner Jones once again has to remind us of his civil rights soldiering then he turns right around and votes for this constitutionally illegal ordinance. Hey Mr. Jones, I'm just an old Rottweiler dog but I think that I might be blacker than you.
Robin Upchurch's use of the word "regale" (twice) seemed strange . Here you go Robin:
French régaler, from Middle French, from regale, noun
Date:
circa 1656
transitive verb 1 : to entertain sumptuously : feast with delicacies 2 : to give pleasure or amusement to
He's suffering from Politicians' Logic. Something must be done, this is something, therefore we must do it.
Yes, Prime Minister, (British TV program)
Interesting little twist you put on this testimony. Only a partial truth with a little fiction sprinkled. Get a life.
ReplyDeleteANONYMOUS~
ReplyDeleteYOU get a life!!!
You people make me SICK! No one in this country believes in the laws that founded this country...Only laws that prohibit people from their indigenous rights!! You all are a bunch of fascist, lying, pieces of cr@p!
Karl and the Art in the Market Artists are doing nothing but trying to PRESERVE the rights given to us by THE CONSTITUTION! There is NO FICTION here...only TRUTH!
...and by the way, The City's ELECTED officials seem to forget about the wants and needs of the residents who MISTAKENLY put them there. I cant wait for the ACLU to climb up their A$$E$ on this one! No one will be laughing or looking the other way, then.
Maybe the city officials should go work for CASTRO! A dictatorship seems to be more their speed...
CAN YOU SAY DEMOCRACY?!?
AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm saddened to hear that the artist (including myself) will no longer be able to express their creativity in the visual arts in a St. Augustine PUBLIC park. What part of PUBLIC does the city not understand? Is this what we pay taxes for? Have there been problems with the artist doing anything except peacefully showing their work? If an artist can not show and sell their work publicly, in time, they can no longer continue in their creative role. An artist must sell to be able to continue their artistic expression. In the past year and a half I have shown paintings in the park and heard nothing but positive feedback from the general public walking through the park.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is another case of Democracy (by, of and for the people) VS Capitalism (by, of and for the merchants that support the politicians).
A sad day.
"The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened." John F. Kennedy, June 11, 1963
ReplyDeleteAnonymous.......From your remarks that I wrote only a partial truth.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you were in the courtroom? Would you elaborate? What part do you feel is fiction? If you can show us where we misunderstood or made a misstatement we will certainly retract.
Amazing what happens to people when they "grow up". The Bina Upchurch I knew in college would never have stood for this.
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