Mayor plans to cut more first responders. Next up : street artists.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who already has a record of decimating other first responders, such as laying off firefighters and closing firehouses, laying off police, doing nothing to save critical hospitals and emergency rooms (such as St. Vincent's Hospital), has now turned his attention to the latest heroes of New York : street artists.

The Huffington Post explains the impact of the mayor's proposed cuts to street artists, not in terms of the loss of arts and culture in New York City, but in terms of national security :

"Right now, the Bloomberg administration wants to reduce park art vendors by a whopping seventy-five percent. If the city follows through with its plan, only 18 vendors would be allowed in Union Square, for example, down from the 100 or so that set up shop now on busy weekends. While the proposed changes would result in more elbow room, the regulations would also mean eighty fewer pairs of eyes that can "say something" when they "see something" suspicious in a crowded park on a summer afternoon, an appealing soft target for people bent on inflicting the most mayhem with minimal effort. Think of your typical vendor as a living, breathing time-lapse camera, attuned to subtleties we don't stick around long enough to notice. Can we really afford to risk losing so many ?"