Beyond Bizarro

By Becky Akers

In the People’s Democratic Republic of New York City, the owner of a building covered in graffiti must pay the “artists” who trespassed on and defaced his property because he whitewashed their “work,” a clown in a federal gown has decreed. And he must pay a lot: $6.7 million.

The clown fulminates in his ruling about “the formidable works of aerosol art”—oh, brother—and mourns that the building “would have been a wonderful tribute for the artists that they richly deserved” had its owner not acted as if he owned the place. We might credit the clown as a superb satirist– except that communists have no sense of humor.

Lest you smirk that such blatant Marxism confines itself to the PDR of NYC, consider that the “law” giving this dung its legal cover is a federal one, the “Visual Rights Act.” Ergo, you, too, could forfeit your property should thugs appropriate it with spray-paint—excuse me, “aerosol art.”
Meanwhile, I suspect His Dishonor is penalizing the owner more for thumbing his nose at the court than anything else–because, yes, in the PDR of NYC, anyone infringing on someone else’s land can sue and tie him up for years as the judiciary deliberates over how the guy with the deed and liability may dispose of his property. Indeed, the legal war over this building has been raging for at least five years. And all the while, the City that has denied the owner his rights has nonetheless been taxing the property.

No wonder the owner forged ahead with his plans to turn a derelict heap into housing. And taking his own matters into his own hands is what actually teed off the gowned clown: “If he did not destroy [the building] until he received his permits and demolished it 10 months later, the Court would not have found that he had acted willfully.”

The unforgivable sin in the People’s Democratic Republic: “acting willfully,” without Our Rulers’ permission.

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