When Rudolph Giuliani was elected Mayor of New York City, he devised a program called Quality of Life. The aim was simple: to clean up the city. What was worth cleaning up was of course subjectively determined by those intent on doing the cleaning.

Besides "unsavory" institutions like porn shops, New York's Quality of Life plan was also designed to control and limit and otherwise get rid of individuals who existed outside of the system, especially those who lived on or made a living on the street. The first targets were the most visible and also the least organized (and therefore the most defenseless): the homeless and the semi-homeless, ala, the once ubiquitous squeegee guys.

Inevitably, street vendors of all sorts were challenged, including street booksellers all over the city--despite their First Amendment Right to distribute literature.

On W4th street, where most of the street booksellers (including myself) were white, the police acted with more restraint unless prompted by an outside complainant. Most of the officers I encountered as a white, "non-threatening" street bookseller were fairly reasonable, and they often admitted they had better things to do then to confront us at our bookstands.

However, when an institution with clout complained about booksellers in the vicinity, action was always taken swiftly. On West Fourth Street, the primary complainant was New York University. 

The University considered to street booksellers to be unsightly and incongruent with their corporate image. Thus, they sought to do away with them by applying steady pressure on the local 9th precinct. Using the police to do their dirty work, and under the umbrella of the Mayor's Quality of Life program, the University whittled away at the civil liberties of those individuals who made a living selling books on West 4th street and in other areas within its sphere of influence.

In the end it was many of NYU's own professors and students who signed the petitions we presented at community board meetings in our defense.

Listen to the following street booksellers describe their experiences against the antogonistic forces of the city, including wealthy and politically influential institutions such as the University and other local real estate moguls:

• Pete Whitney - the Bookseller Extraordinaire tells it like it is on W4th. (via RealAudio)

• Ron Harris - describes his experiences with the cops and the law at his 6th Avenue bookstand. (via RealAudio)
• Tomas Dunkleth - Often painfully slow, but very thoughtful. (via RealAudio)

Do you disagree with the University's stance towards the street booksellers? Send them an email and let them know how you feel.

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