Highbrow/Despicable Versus Lowbrow/Despicable!

For years, it has been settled law that artists — merchants of everything from hackneyed images of Manhattan to names on grains of rice — have been constitutionally protected to sell their wares in city parks. That apparently is not the case for the High Line:

In 2001, both state and federal courts ruled that New York City could not require permits for artists in parks under the First Amendment under a case brought by Mr. [Robert A.] Lederman. In addition, Mr. Lederman was also a plaintiff in an earlier case which established artists’ rights to sell on the streets in 1997, under the argument that the artists deserved the same protections as booksellers and others selling printed materials, who had long been exempt from licensing.

On Saturday, Mr. Lederman said, representatives of Friends of the High Line, including security and supervisors, had approached him all day, threatening him. Finally they brought a parks enforcement officer. “I showed them a New York Times article and a New York Post article about the artist permit being overturned and that artists don’t need a permit,” said Mr. Lederman, who said it appeared that the enforcement officer believed him. However, Mr. Lederman said that the officer was pressured to issue summonses and arrest him.

When asked about the situation, Katie Lorah, a spokeswoman for Friends of the High Line, said, “We’re actually not commenting right now” and referred all questions to the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The DPR spokesperson claimed the High Line was somehow different. The artist in question fleshes out that argument for them:

“The parks department and the High Line people have their own agenda for commercializing this park, and they’re hoping to nip street artists in the bud by arresting me,” he said. “Frankly I think they made a tremendous mistake. I’m not looking to make a big commotion on the High Line. I would prefer not to have to do that. I certainly don’t need to go back there to make the point. They made the point already. They gave me five different summonses. I’m not going to have to prove anything to the judge about what they’re intentions were and continue to be. I plan to go back there to sell my art if not to protest, and I have a right to. I intend to exercise that right.”

Location Scout: High Line.

Merry Christmas . . . Feel Free To Stiff The Homeless

In the past, the Post has done its most just in time for Christmas to make you feel less guilty for stiffing panhandlers. Here they are again, gleefully reporting State AG Andrew Cuomo’s crackdown on the United Homeless Organization plastic water jugs that are all over town, at tables where volunteers ask you to give up a penny for the homeless:

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed suit yesterday, charging the United Homeless Organization is a scam run by con artists who pocket most of the change they collect — hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

. . .

UHO founder Stephen Riley and director Myra Walker take a big cut of the money to fund personal shopping sprees at the GameStop, Home Shopping Network, Bed Bath & Beyond and P.C. Richard, as well as their monthly cable bills, legal papers charge.

Riley, a beefy 60-year-old, shamelessly used the donated dollars — which are supposed to be used to “feed the homeless” — to pay his Weight Watchers bills.

I Want You To Ditch An Airbus A320 In My Hudson River . . .

That’s all we need to say about this:

The wife of Pilot Chesley Sullenberger let slip that all the hosannas her hubby got for safely landing a US Airways plane in the Hudson River gave their sex life a big boost.

“He doesn’t know I’m gonna say this, but I had joked the other day that . . . the hero sex really helps a 20-year-old marriage,” Laurie Sullenberger told NBC’s Matt Lauer.

See also: US Airways Flight 1549.

About That Cord That You Should Never Ever Pull . . .

In case you ever wondered exactly when you should pull the cord, since it’s unclear from the sign when you should ever be pulling the cord:

A rider on a Bronx-bound D train pulled the emergency cord Saturday after Gerardo Sanchez allegedly stabbed Dwight Johnson to death in an argument as the train traveled to the Seventh Avenue station.

But passengers should never pull the cord when the subway train is between stations, said NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton.

. . .

If a passenger witnesses a crime or a passenger becomes ill, the cord can be pulled if the train is still at the station but not when it’s already departing.

NYC Transit says the cord is mainly to stop a train from leaving a station if someone gets caught between closing car doors and is being dragged.

Mayor Bloomberg (R) Has Been Responsive To The Needs Of All New Yorkers . . .

Which translates to the Daily News having to wait over four months to receive photos of the mayor with Alaska Governor and divisive figure Sarah Palin, an image that would have become a pretty awesome hit piece for the Thompson campaign:

The picture — and six others — was shot Oct. 10, 2007, when the then-governor of Alaska was on a visit to New York.

Bloomberg hosts visiting pols all the time for short meet-and-greets, and nobody knew at the time that, a year later, Palin would become a controversial Republican icon.

The photos might have been inconvenient for Bloomberg while he was running against Democrat Bill Thompson in a heavily Democratic city, but they belong to the taxpayers.

The Daily News asked for copies of the photographs July 8. Under the state Freedom of Information Law, Bloomberg’s lawyer Anthony Crowell had to respond within five days.

He handed them over two weeks after the election.

See also: Bloomberg For Mayor 2009.