YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK - ARTISTS GONE !

Last week the local news paper here, "The St. Augustine Record" reported that recently almost 20,000 dollars had been paid to hired counsel Michael Kahn of Melbourne to prosecute artist Suvo on a single charge of "offering for sale" artwork on St. George Street. Each side gave oral arguments of one half hour before Judge Wendy Berger. Contrary to previous Federal precedents he was found guilty and the fine of 165 dollars remained.

Mr. Kahn submitted his bill and was paid 19, 700 dollars from your tax dollars! This was for prosecution of one city code infraction. Suvo has perhaps a dozen more scheduled for trial along with seven other artists.

On New Years Eve two Art In The Market artists, Scott Raimondo and Dean Quigley were jailed for "offering for sale" artworks in the Plaza De La Constitucion. Undercover officers being paid overtime were used to solicit a price quote from each artist. These two desperate criminals were handcuffed and taken to the St. John's County jail and finally bonded out just moments before midnight, ringing in the New Year, 2009.

According to S.A.P.D. Commander Fricke, the city is "stepping up enforcement" by not only continue issuing 100 dollar citations but will now "take the artists directly to jail" before trial for "violating" ordinance 22-6. Meanwhile, the city permits musicians with tip jars and sellers of counterfeit designer purses to operate without hassle. Clearly this is directed solely at visual artists . City Manager Mr. William ("Art is Foo Foo") Harris and his landlord cronies feel that they are above the law and can use taxpayer funds to harass the artists to "protect" their interests, particularly in the case of Len Cutter who owns four art galleries surrounding the Plaza. He must feel that as an important man in this community he can dictate what takes place in "HIS" front yard, the Plaza De La Constitucion.........the nations oldest public space as stated on a sign near St. George Street.

So, as of New Year's Day 2009, after almost 450 years, you no longer have the ability or right to acquire artwork from the artist vendors of St. Augustine. Big Brother has won......................so far. The First Amendment does not exist in St. Augustine. Thank the artists for a good fight but we have drained our resources and will , fighting for our (and yours) natural rights.

This community should be ashamed, permitting this behaviour by unscrupulous city officials.

Gangsta Car

The S.A.P.D. are most likely disgusted with the job of surveilling (word?) artists on the street. They might ask themselves "Is this why I went into law enforcement?".

Never let it be said that City Manager Bill Harriss won't take on the dirty jobs himself. Yesterday Harriss and an underling were spotted in a black S.U.V. with a fellow in the back seat taking photos of artists set up in a "legal" area. This was reported to us by a painter and a photographer (who somehow didn't think to take his own photos) Fellow artists.....keep your cameras handy and your voice recorders ready. If you do not have these things documented.........it didn't happen.

A friend of ours from Paraguay said that these things happened in his country during the Stroessner regime. He was aghast that this happens here.

A cynic is simply a disappointed idealist.

A Spurious Interview

City Manager William Harriss performing an elancer

Promises to be more "arty"

Interviewer: At a recently City Commission meeting you said that "Art is foo foo" what did you mean by that?

Harriss: What I meant was that with my daily duties of running the City of St. Augustine and stuff, I don't have much time for artsy things. I leave that to my wife, you know, decorating and all.

Interviewer:. It usually means something that is inappropriate for a man....something effeminate...doesn't it?

Harriss: Yeah, I guess so. I had heard though that John Wayne collected dolls.

Interviewer: Well actually they were Hopi Kachina dolls, very important to their culture.

Harriss: Yeah, but still.....dolls?

Interviewer: St. Augustine presents itself as an arts community yet there have been instances of jailing artists who have shown and sold on the streets. What about that?

Harriss: What about what?

Interviewer" The city's jailing of artists

Harriss: Look.....artists are in galleries, artists are in museums, artists are in art associations but I gotta tell you, artists do not belong on the sidewalks and in the parks. I've got a friend, a very important man in this community who owns four galleries around the Plaza and it galls him to no end to see those so called artists out there under the trees selling to the tourists. As City Manager I've got to protect his interests

Interviewer: Isn't he the man who sold the 100,000 dollar sculpture to a collector who in turn donated it to the city.

Harriss: I don't know. Did he?

Interviewer: Yes, he did. This was last week. You have no memory of this?

Harriss: Oh yeah, right. That metal statue of a shirtless guy.

Interviewer: How about the artist's stance that the Federal Courts have determined that visual art is protected by the First Amendment?

Harriss: Look, the Bill of Rights , The Constitution ,The Emancipation Proclamation were all written hundreds of years ago. Times change. I read where America is a work in progress. Those old ideas about personal freedoms and rights don't fly anymore. I have a favorite expression "Your Rights end ,when mine begin". I think that Will Rogers said that. Gotta go