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Battle of New Orleans pits artists against psychics
Painters prevail for now in prime tourist spot on Jackson Square 05/25/2003
NEW ORLEANS – If fortune-telling is a form of free speech, the psychics of
Jackson Square may have a federal case against the city for banishing them
from the public commons last week.
Police began enforcing an ordinance that prohibits astrologers, tarot
card readers and palm readers from setting up tables and chairs around
the square last weekend. Moving in are painters and other artists, who
support New Orleans City Council member Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson in
the latest march in her crusade to clean up the French Quarter.
"A public space is a place for the free marketplace of ideas. The City
Council wants to allow certain ideas and not others," said Joe Cook,
executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union. He is studying the possibility of representing the
psychics in a potential lawsuit in federal court.
Ms. Clarkson, seen by some as the latest crusader in a series of
reformers who started changing the nature of the historic French Quarter
in the 1950s, disagrees with those who say the new ordinance encroaches
on free speech.
"We left lots of free space," she said. "We have a right by
constitutional history to preserve an artists' zone. It's not limiting
musicians, mimes or other entertainers. It's only limiting those trying
to snuff out the artists."
The new ordinance reserves 20 feet from the Jackson Square fence along
Chartres, St. Ann and St. Peter streets, and five feet along Decatur
Street where horse-drawn carriages park across from Café Du Monde, for
artists who paint on canvas.
"Artists aren't the only ones who have historical value here,"
astrologer and palm reader James Allen told the Associated Press. "And
when it comes down to it, I believe Jackson Square is still a public
square. So why is it being sorted out in sections?"
The problem, said artists, residents, business owners and city
officials, has been that the psychics – unlicensed, untaxed businesses
with a relatively short history in New Orleans – have gradually taken
over space that for decades had been reserved for traditional artists.
Many psychics even paid homeless people to sleep overnight in their
spaces, they say, and became belligerent when challenged.
Jackson Square, which surrounds Jackson Square Park off Decatur Street,
is a public commons where artists have painted for a couple of centuries
and horn players have performed for coins since Thomas Jefferson bought
the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803.
Taking the heat
Last year, there was a wave of criticism when she ordered benches to be
removed from Jackson Square, a move interpreted as an attempt to run
homeless people out of the area by removing places to sleep. She says
she did it to make room for fire trucks around several of the city's
oldest and most historic buildings, including St. Louis Cathedral, and
the Cabildo, damaged in a 1988 fire.
The benches returned with a fresh coat of paint a couple of months ago –
and armrests that make it difficult to stretch out.
Ms. Clarkson says her campaign has enhanced public health and safety by
persuading the police to issue citations to leaky garbage trucks, by
ordering city workers to add more garbage cans in the area and to clean
up around them.
Crews are also sanitizing the sidewalks and cleaning out the storm
drains to lessen the pungent aroma of vomit and urine, especially on
Bourbon Street. For years, the smells have had a tendency to overwhelm
even the most aromatic batch of gumbo cooking in quarter restaurants,
particularly in the hottest summer months.
She also persuaded police to be more vigilant about petty street crimes,
even targeting panhandlers and hustlers.
For several days before and after the Jackson Square ordinance took
effect, psychics and artists faced off in the area.
Fortune tellers, joined by a few musicians and some homeless people,
yelled "Fascist" at artists aligned with Ms. Clarkson and carried signs
such as the one painted with a Nazi swastika with the words "Sieg Heil
Jackie" and another saying, "Jackson Square. Not Jackie's Square."
An opposing sign saying "Thank you Jackie. A cleaner/safer quarter
benefits everyone" was carried by Lee Tucker, president of the Friends
of Jackson Square. He has painted in New Orleans for 32 years.
He said the new ordinance does not prevent fortune tellers from
operating in the city or in the quarter.
"The tarot card readers can go anywhere else," he said. "Every business
owner and resident here supports this."
Group cries foul
"The same law would prohibit onlookers of Mardi Gras parades from
viewing events on the St. Charles neutral ground in the comfort of a
folding chair," he said. "It is a cowardly and mean-spirited attack on
free speech and the vibrant street culture of New Orleans."
Ms. Clarkson said the new law would not prevent any musician or tourist
from setting up a chair.
Louis Sahuc, a resident of the historic Pontalba apartment building
overlooking Jackson Square and owner of a Dumaine Street photography
business, stood by watching the protests last week.
Mr. Sahuc supports removing the psychics.
"No city in the world allows unlicensed businesses," he said.
He said psychics are being penalized because they tried to crowd out the
artists altogether.
Glynn Wilson is a free-lance writer based in New Orleans.
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