New York Times Covers "Reprieve for Performers in Washington Square Park"

WSP Blog first reported the story on the City reversing course on ticketing and fining performers at Washington Square Park on May 10th; other media outlets followed suit, including the New York Times on Friday, May 18th.

From NYT, “A Reprieve for Performers in Washington Square Park” (5/18):

The show can go on in Washington Square Park.

After months in which the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation handed out summonses in the park to performers who strayed too close to monuments and benches, park officials seem to have quietly backed down in the park, a birthplace of folk music and a haven for poets, activists and buskers.

In a statement, Philip Abramson, a parks department spokesman, said that “the expressive matter rules have not changed,” referring to the regulations seeking to control commerce in busy parks. The rules prohibit the sale of art and souvenirs, and restrict the solicitation of donations, within 50 feet of a park monument or 5 feet of a bench. But, the statement said, the rules generally do “not apply to buskers and entertainers.”

Except, of course, when they do.

* WSP Blog, City Reverses Course on Performance Crackdown at Washington Square Park; No More Ticketing and Fining of “Entertainers and Buskers” May 10, 2011

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