New York City artists that are known as street vendors and have routinely sold their work in NYC’s Union Square have been fighting for their first amendment rights so they can continue to sell their work:

On Friday, April 4, a Parks Department official approached artists who had set up in the park and told them that, due to the construction of the private restaurant in the north pavilion, they would not be allowed to sell their art on Wednesdays and Saturdays, two of the most popular days for artists to sell their work, and that the artists were to vacate the park.

As the Indypendent reported in “Union Square Boondoggle,” the reconstruction of Union Square Park will displace the Greenmarket from the north end of the park to the southern and western ends of Union Square. Street artists have usually set up in the southern end of the park.

Immediately after the artists’ eviction, the organization Artists’ Response To Illegal State Tactics (A.R.T.I.S.T.) sprung into action, and organized a rapid response to the eviction. Phone calls were made to the Parks Department, complaining about their eviction, and by the next day the Parks Department had slightly changed their position, and allowed the artists to set up in a traffic triangle on the south end of Union Square. [Indypendent]

I personally have two friends who sell in the park and have bought many presents etc.. from lots of street artists. I’ve always enjoyed being able to get original awesome work for myself and the people I care about and know that I am paying the artist. I can’t help but feel that if we can’t buy art on the street that the magic of what New York City is starting to disappear.

For more information and to yourself go HERE to see the yahoo group for the artists.