Mary Parker (Clove Spice)

Archie Joyner (standing) and Joe Dellutri (sitting) 5/5/2011 playing and singing unharassed by PEP (Park Enforcement Police) in Washington Square Park.

Since "Occupy Wall Street" has been over, performing within 50 feet of a monument or 5 feet from the benches has become a ticketable offense. Thousands of dollars worth of tickets have been issued to Colin Huggins for playing the grand piano he laboriously hauls into WSP on the days he plays. A similar number have been given to Joe Mangrum, a sand artist whose intricate and colorful creations are offered to the park-going public behind the WSP Arch on good days. Other park performers have been issued summonses, but not to the same extent.

Community Board 2 held a hearing on the subject on Dec. 19, 2011 in the Kimmel Student Center of NYU on Washington Square South. For an audio of the meeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWe623Sax9A&feature=share

Manhattan Borough Commissioner for New York City Parks, William Castro was the first official speaker, explaining the Parks Department side of things. The remainder of the meeting was made up of speakers - performers, local residents, regular park goers - who uniformly opposed the new enforcement of supposedly old rules.