Remember when I mentioned how Thoth was arrested? (Hint: I mentioned it 3 days ago).
There’s been an update. Gothamist reports that they’ve gotten a response from the Parks Department:
“There are many spaces in Central Park where unamplified music may be played without a permit. However, the Bethesda Terrace area has been designated a ‘quiet zone’ for many years. The Parks Department routinely asks musicians and performers to move from Bethesda to other areas of the park such as the Bandshell and Dead Road.
On Sunday afternoon, many performers were playing at Bethesda at the same time creating a great deal of noise as well as crowd congestion. Parks asked all of them to relocate, which they all did, except for two individuals who refused to move. Those individuals were arrested by Parks Enforcement Patrol and taken to the Central Park Precinct where they were issued summonses and released.”
Okay, I suppose that seems… legitimate enough. I mean, the place where Thoth was Prayforming had been a ‘quiet zone’ for quite a while, right? I mean, I’m not sure of exactly how long the guy’s been there, but he can’t have started too much earlier than 2002, when the Academy-Award winning documentary about him was made, so I’m sure that the Parks Department has been trying to get this guy to stop so the area gets all quiet again ever since. They’ve just been stymied by red tape and all the other stuff in New York for them to worry about.
Oh wait. Central Park advertises Thoth as an attraction at the park. To quote the important bit:
“It [Bethesda Terrace, where Thoth Prayforms] has also brilliantly fulfilled the designer’s purpose in becoming Central Park premiere spot for crowd watching. Another aspect, perhaps unforeseen by Olmsted and Vaux is the Terrace’s role as center stage to a wide variety of artists. The most famous of these is Thoth, one of New York City’s most talented and celebrated street performers and subject of the 2002 Academy Award winning film of the same name.”
Wait, what? I don’t even know how this is supposed to work. How can you claim that someone is an “attraction,” as it were, specifically due to their abilities as a musician, and then claim that they aren’t allowed to be where you say they are because they’re making music?
Doesn’t this just send a great message? “Hey, people! Come to Central Park and watch talented artsist perform! If you get lucky, you’ll even get to watch someone be arrested! What fun! Exclamation points for everyone!”
Sorry, Parks Department. I’m not buying your explanation.
Incidentally, in case you wish to bring this up with someone, Thoth recommends writing to AColletti@centralparknyc.org.
And there you have it.
Tags: Civil Rights, Injustice, Pink Angel, S.K. Thoth
July 16, 2009 at 12:25 |
You know, I was thinking about this a few minutes ago, and I think I get how this went down. Probably, whoever’s in charge of enforcement at the park has been turning a blind eye to Thoth for years. But, since it *is* technically against park regulations, he didn’t communicate this tacit approval to his underlings. Meanwhile, whoever wrote up that copy for the terrace probably just assumed that, since Thoth hadn’t been removed, he was supposed to be there.
Thus, the mention of Thoth in official promotional material. Thus, when a situation arose where you couldn’t very well deny the existence of the violation, you have to follow the rules.