Free Speech Loses

Background

The Constitutionally faulty ordinance passed by the St. Augustine City Commission last October was an end run around Federal Judge Marcia Morales Howard's injunction against enforcement towards painters, photographers and sculptors.It illegally prohibits artists from creating, displaying or selling their works on public property (a Constitutionally protected right.) This means little to The City of St. Augustine.Artists have been jailed six times over restictive ordinances in the past three years and dozens of citations have been issued. Not one of these were ever prosecuted and all were vacated as a result of the Federal Judges order.The City of St. Augustine had to pay the artist's attorney fees (as ell as their outside attorney) and damages from taxpayer coffers.

Why do they do this?

One of the answers is this: The city is micromanaging and maintaining control of what they consider their property. As a city official told me regarding the Plaza de la Constitucion, "This is not public property, this is City property". We can write of "shadow governments" and conspiracies and come of as paranoid fringe people but the reality is that there are landlords who chafe at the fact that non rent paying visual artists were showing and selling their wares under the live oaks of the nation's oldest park.These third and fourth generation property owners are so influential that local elected county and circuit judges will ignore Federal case law and prosecute any artist who stands up for their rights. The artists filed in Federal court to override any non constitutional decisions. We were successful. The City administration was not happy and passed an even more draconian, restrictive and illegal ordinance against the visual artists.

At this time

After a challenge from the artists three years ago the city's legal department conceded that a permit fee for visual artists will not stand constitutional scrutiny. The city refunded thousands of dollars to artists who had paid 75 dollars a month in previous years.They also reaffirmed in writing that the Plaza was a public space that visual artists may use to display and sell their works. Time , place and manner rules were made and things went well with no complaints for almost a year. This did not satisfy those important landlords who disposed of  former city attorney who decided, after research, that the artists were correct in their claims . Many fine artists who depended upon the sale of their works as income have left St. Augustine for cities with less restrictive policies and were "artist friendly", recognising that the inclusion of artists is a benefit to their tourist driven economy (the artists here in St. Augustine all had sales tax ID.numbers and filed,usually quarterly)

Artists now must sign up for a lottery for  a space in the Slave Market in the Plaza.At it's worst, there would be three places in the Slave Market for visual artists. The other spaces are designated for crafters and, ridiculously enough, musicians. In the first month a One Man Band was assigned a space ten feet away from the African Drummer amidst the artists and crafters. This lasted one day. Imagine the noise and headaches! No musician has ever returned. The City also used this ordinance to rid the Slave Market of the homeless guys who used it to get the little shade available on public property.. Oh yeah, the city has conveniently ignored their previous policy and now an artist must pay 75 dollars to go into this lottery and submit themselves to be photographed  at City Hall.. A licence is to be worn on the artist's person and it is clearly spelled out identifying the painter as a "street performer". You cannot buy a license as a visual artist. You see, street performers (with the sound and crowd factor) have less constitutional rights as visual artists so the city's solution was to label the artists something other than what they are..

The slave market is located at the eastern end of the Plaza taking up approximately 1/10 of the Plaza. These days most foot traffic is at the opposite end of the Plaza.The remaining artists (two or three) are artists that formerly consistently sold well as most artworks that tourists want are scenes of St. Augustine. General landscapes or "non St.Augustine" artworks come in a distant second to these artworks. The artists there attribute a slow economy and the lack of foot traffic to a reduction of 60 to 70% of their former business.

A Personal Note

Mine is the story of a man who had been in the art and graphics business, but wanted to do something more than design pamphlets and learn new computer skills at at an age when many are retiring from their field.My life took a detour when I went back to my hometown after twenty five years to take care of my ailing father.

After my father's death four years later, I decided that at the age of 55 I would start over and be the "pure artist" that I always wanted to be. Studying up on public space and energized by the street artists I had known in NYC, I filled the gas tank in my father's old beaten up 1990 Cadillac Coupe De Ville, heading South.with my art supplies and an old Rottweiler companion Karl ( I had become a Southerner over the years.) Somewhere in middle Alabama during an horrific thunderstorm I was hit with the fact that I'm not thirty something anymore , not even forty something.that this was a crazy endeavor,but I continued on to New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina diverted me to St. Augustine.Florida.

I have since been jailed four times here in St. Augustine and received twelve tickets and fines for exercising my rights as an artist. To encapsulate my story . Artist's began rallying behind me and I was able, with the help of local attorney Tom Cushman and his assistant Nadine Phelps to get our fight into Federal Court via an expensive "white shoe" law firm out of Jacksonville. There  were so many gaps and restrictions in our ability to sell or display, but I then had a financial cushion to keep up the struggle for the "little guy", the individual artists.

Now, the artists are gone ,winning the battle but you cannot win against a goup that subverts the law for their own agenda..I fought City Hall. I naively believed that the courts would ensure the individuals rights.I see the so called local Arts Groups fighting over who is to get what dollars from the taxpayer pures, I see self interests of the monied people taking precedence over the well settled rights of an individual (Artist's Rights Are Your Rights!) "It's all about the money", says former art gallery owner Mayor Joe Boles. That is an absolute truth , without money an artist cannot create, a newspaper cannot publish and a book cannot be written and distributed.

"Where are the artists?!"," They arrest artist!?". "They  can't do that!"  "You should fight them !".

"This is not right!"

 I've heard the above statements every day I that was out in the elements displaying my artwork. The citizens then go home and forget about it. It doesn't really affect them, they think. I have had a few supporters outside of the artists, who have helped financially.contributing to "the cause" but they have dwindled , many considering it a "lost cause" and that this is proof that you cannot fight City Hall.

Frankly, since my close companion, Karl the Rottweiler died in March at age 14 ( six hundred dollars in vet bills) my heart is not in this any more. I invited artists to come paint on the six easels that I set up last Saturday and no one showed up I was given a 200 dollar ticket for "offering for sale"(not guilty) The next day I set up the six easels throughout the plaza with "No Art" painted on and two people wanted to buy them ( is this a dark comedy or what?!) I gave them away. I now have a criminal record on file, it doesn't matter that the fine print shows that i was not guilty on all charges, it remains on record.

 My stubborn misplaced pride and reaction against bullies kept me here when I should have left almost five years ago.As Officer Walter Wachowski told me then when I first arrived "I'm gonna arrest you! tow your crappy car! impound your dog! and confiscate your art!." (Officer Simpson as witness) It came to pass four times...Karl my dog was with me all the way.