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Police vs. Soho Street Vendors, Round 2
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 3, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 3, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Last week we mentioned the ongoing battle between police and street vendors/artists on the streets of Soho. Robert Lederman, president of A.R.T.I.S.T., or Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics, made a video that we posted which shows a confrontation between himself and the police.
This past weekend he made a new one, which you can watch below:
We're all for artists being able to legally sell their work on the street. Yes, it adds to the cluttered sidewalk at times, but it's not like this is happening on every street in the city. However, in this above video Lederman seems to be antagonizing the police a lot more - as they remain pretty calm and don't seem to harass him. Granted, they probably learned their lesson from the first video and may just be waiting until the little red light on his camera is turned off, but what do you think - is Lederman being too much of a "rabble rouser"?
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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