Forced smiles are just about the only kind you'll get from artists in Union Square Park lately, now that Bloomberg and Benepe's system of having a limited amount of spots for artists to set up and sell their creations. It's not just in Union Square, but in other parks around the city too. Too many artists for not enough spots that are in ill-thought out or even outright dangerous locations (dangerous because of the proximity to automobile traffic, not like bad neighborhood dangerous).
The sad thing is (among many sad things) is that there doesn't seem to be any legal remedies on the horizon. There are a few cases going to court to fight it, but that won't be for a while. So, for the foreseeable future, the artists will have to make due with limited spots, showing up to the park at 4am to get a spot they'll sit in until at least 6pm (and you know how much art gets sold on the street between 4am and noon...), and bemoaning the position the mayor and the head of the parks department has put them in.
But the artists will find a way. I have to believe that the artists will find a way. That's what creative people do.
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