Where's the who, what, why, when, where? Shallow Record article on third day after federal court rules artists' First Amendment rights violated.

On artist suppression, the St. Augustine Record was long a tool of the Chamber of Commerce a/k/a "Chamberpot) (now its tenant in the Record's office building). Here's a shallow story that didm't bother mentioning the First Amendment, the history of City lawbreaking, or quoting any plaintiff lawyer of law professor. This is shallow "spin" from the City's maladroit mouthpiece, ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ, who did not even want to sit at the counsel tablet with MARKS GRAY insurance defense lawyers at the August 21, 2015 oral argument. Pitiful:

U.S. District Court ruling in St. Augustine artists' case shakes up city rules
Posted: February 25, 2016 - 8:39pm | Updated: February 26, 2016 - 4:42am





By SHELDON GARDNER
sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com


Under a U.S. District Court ruling issued Wednesday, the city of St. Augustine must cease enforcing several rules for managing vendors — at least for now.

Four local artists filed a lawsuit against the city in June over rules for hours of operation, locations and fees for performers, vendors and peddlers. Creating art is considered a performance under city code, and selling art is considered vending.

The artists took issue with the restrictions on selling of the art, and the motion called city rules unconstitutional for different reasons.

As part of their suit, attorneys for the artists — Bruce Bates, Elena Hecht, Kate Merrick and Helena Sala — sought a motion to stop enforcement of the rules while the case is pending.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Brian Davis signed an order that grants parts of their motion and denies the rest.

While part of the artists’ motion targeted the city’s “combined vending ordinances,” the court order only stops enforcement of the city’s peddlers’ ordinance and certain provisions of other ordinances or sections of the code.

Under the ruling, the city can’t enforce time restrictions or licensing and permitting fees for mobile vendors. The city also can’t enforce insurance requirements for mobile vendors.

The city’s time restriction had limited sales to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in historic zoning districts, according to the order.

Other time restrictions applied to other zoning districts.

Now the city can’t enforce a time restriction for people with a mobile vendors licenses because of the ruling, City Attorney Isabelle Lopez said.

Also, the city can’t charge the fees associated with vending and getting and keeping the mobile vendor’s license. Those fees included a $75 monthly fee, and can include $50 a year to put up a tent south of the Visitor Information Center and $75 a month to operate in the Plaza de la Constitucion market, according to the order.

Under the order, the city also cannot enforce any part of the peddlers’ ordinance, but Lopez said Thursday city officials have no knowledge of anyone getting a peddler’s permit or the ordinance being enforced.

The city code doesn’t define a peddler, but during a court hearing the city said the peddlers’ ordinance applies to mobile, door-to-door sales and commercial activity, according to the court order.

A mobile vendor is someone who sells goods from “a non-permanent table, box cart, trailer or vehicle at a fixed location including goods placed on the ground.”

People still have to abide by the city’s rules regarding where they can perform or vend and any other rules not stopped by the order.

“We are going to try and make sure that ... members of the public understand what the injunction actually prohibits us from enforcing,” Lopez said.

This isn’t the first time the city has found itself in court over rules regarding vendors or street performers.

A series of legal challenges to the city’s rules helped shape today’s version of the city code.

In 2000, a U.S. District court judge found unconstitutional a city ordinance with content-based restrictions for vendors. Bates, Hecht and Merrick were plaintiffs in the case in 2009 in which a U.S. district judge granted a preliminary injunction against city rules — those rules kept visual artists from displaying and selling work in the Plaza de la Constitucion.