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If you want to write an accurate history of the SF Street Artist Program then you should have contacted the people who were directly involved in creating the program who are still alive and still in the program and not simply rely on old newspaper articles for your "facts". Newspaper articles about the street artists were not always accurate. I'm William J. Clark and Warren Garrick Nettles and Frank Whyte were my personal friends and worked with me to get the Street Artist Program started. You ask about sources. I am the source!!! I lived the history and I have all of the historical records in my own personal possession which support every correction I made to your incomplete and partially inaccurate history. For you to remove the portions of the history that I added to your account is ridiculous and a discredit to the people who you left out of the history who worked with Warren and Frank. I don't question your motives for writing the history but your account contains information that is not completely accurate. For you to leave my involvement and contribution out of the early history from 1971-1973 borders on an attempt to rewrite history. Everything I wrote in my edit of your history of the beginning of the Street Artist Program is true and accurate and I have the evidence to prove it. You started this Misplaced Pages page but you don't own the history of the Street Artist Program and you should be thankful I made the effort to add to your original writings with a more detailed account of the actual events that occurred and the names of some of the other people besides Warren and Frank who were instrumental in forcing the City of San Francisco to start the Street Artist Program. If you doubt the veracity of any of my edits then point them out and we can discuss them right here. If you have no evidence to disprove any of my edits then you have no right to remove them.
== The San Francisco Street Artists Program Article is a ''History'' Piece, and not a News Release or a Promotional Advertisement ==
== The San Francisco Street Artists Program Article is a ''History'' Piece, and not a News Release or a Promotional Advertisement ==
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If you want to write an accurate history of the SF Street Artist Program then you should have contacted the people who were directly involved in creating the program who are still alive and still in the program and not simply rely on old newspaper articles for your "facts". Newspaper articles about the street artists were not always accurate. I'm William J. Clark and Warren Garrick Nettles and Frank Whyte were my personal friends and worked with me to get the Street Artist Program started. You ask about sources. I am the source!!! I lived the history and I have all of the historical records in my own personal possession which support every correction I made to your incomplete and partially inaccurate history. For you to remove the portions of the history that I added to your account is ridiculous and a discredit to the people who you left out of the history who worked with Warren and Frank. I don't question your motives for writing the history but your account contains information that is not completely accurate. For you to leave my involvement and contribution out of the early history from 1971-1973 borders on an attempt to rewrite history. Everything I wrote in my edit of your history of the beginning of the Street Artist Program is true and accurate and I have the evidence to prove it. You started this Misplaced Pages page but you don't own the history of the Street Artist Program and you should be thankful I made the effort to add to your original writings with a more detailed account of the actual events that occurred and the names of some of the other people besides Warren and Frank who were instrumental in forcing the City of San Francisco to start the Street Artist Program. If you doubt the veracity of any of my edits then point them out and we can discuss them right here. If you have no evidence to disprove any of my edits then you have no right to remove them.
The San Francisco Street Artists Program Article is a History Piece, and not a News Release or a Promotional Advertisement
I can not fathom how anyone would see this as a "news piece", when the substance of the article is really historical in nature. The article is about the history of the invention of a new branch of San Francisco's government.
Please read the original release of the article of 9 February 2014 . That version is populated with an enormous amount of references to newspaper articles that span 40 years, which were researched at the San Francisco Public Library.
Once again, history is the substance of the topic and its original form of February 9th shows that it is tightly sourced to historic facts from newspaper articles. If it was really "promotional" in nature, then the majority of its text would be without referenced sources. The abundance of sourced references guarantees the essential neutrality of this history piece. The San Francisco Street Artists Program is an public municipal arts program, not unlike the public market in Seattle called Pike's Place.
The San Francisco Street Artists Program article is also about a part of San Francisco's government, in much the same way that the San Francisco Arts Commission article describes a branch of government. It would be a mistake to delete any article about a branch of government, or the history involved in the formation of a branch of government.
I created this article because I witnessed an extraordinary sequence of unlikely political events which shaped a new and innovative branch of municipal government, and not because I need to advertise or promote the San Francisco Street Artist Program itself.
Also, to condense the article would be a big mistake. When examining history, we need to see the complete sequencing of events in order to truly understand a phenomena and its causes. When it comes to history, more information is better than too little information. James Carroll (talk) 16:05, 16 February 2014 (UTC)
Suggested rewriting
I am not questioning the historical accuracy or necessity of the article. I am questioning the style of writing: of wordiness, foreshadowing, and other journalistic devices that newspaper and magazine writers use to draw people into an article. This is not a newspaper story, but an encyclopedia entry, and needs to be written in much sparser, facts-only, and neutral prose. Rather than work through the piece and have it all reverted, I've gone through the first few paragraphs to show you what I mean by encyclopedic prose. Any inaccuracies in the rewrite are due to the fact that I haven't immersed myself in the article thoroughly enough to really understand what it's saying:
The San Francisco Street Artists Program is a municipal project {not sure of the description} in which independent artists and craftspeople sell art and crafts items that have been predominately created or significantly altered by them, in designated selling spaces throughout the city of San Francisco, California. Founded in 1972, the program is entirely funded by certification fees levied on each street artist, and generates $4 million annually for the city's economy.
The program was the result of a hard-fought political battle by street art advocates who were willing to be arrested many times in order to draw media attention and push for a change in existing laws for public street selling {or whatever it's called}. In 1972, their efforts resulted in the passing of a law allowing artists to legally sell on the city's sidewalks. The Street Artist Program has served as a training ground for grassroots political activism, and is responsible for an ongoing political dialogue about what activities should, and should not, be allowed in public areas. The program has also served as a template for other cities wanting to create their own street artist programs.
{I removed these 2 sentences from the lead, as they are more analysis than declaration, and it's unclear what you're talking about}: Although the original Street Artist Program allowed artists and craftspeople to sell only their own, handmade arts or crafts, today the certified artists and craftspeople of the program are restricted to selling items that they have "predominately created or significantly altered". Commercially-manufactured goods are also allowed to be sold in the program, thus negating an important compromise with local retail establishments.
== History ==
The roots of the San Francisco Street Artists Program go back more than a decade before the defining legislation of 1972. During the 1960s, California was the site of many outdoor art fairs, which nurtured a culture of independent artists and craftspersons. At the same time in the liberal Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, there was an effort to sell crafts on Haight Street's sidewalks. {The foreshadowing in the next 2 sentences should be avoided; state what happened in its own chronological section}: Later in 1971 two gay artists, Warren Garrick Nettles and Frank Whyte along with one heterosexual artist, William (Bill) J. Clark, would be instrumental in petitioning San Francisco's government for an arts program that enabled artists to legally sell on the city's sidewalks. Artists and street performers who illegally set up in public areas were frequently harassed and arrested by the police. In the 700 block of Beach Street next to Victoria Park, near Fisherman's Wharf, for example, about 20 artists would sell their goods with the aid of lookouts, who alerted them to the arrival of the police so they could temporarily move and avoid arrest.
{This also belongs later, and needs to be sourced}: The widespread political activism and protests at cities and universities across the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s is also seen as a cultural catalyst for the grassroots political energy of the San Francisco street-art advocates who would create the first street artist program in America.
OK, I see where you are going with this. I do not have problem with way you are taking the tone down a couple of notches, and being more objective and concrete. As long as the raw facts remain intact somewhere in the article, I am content. And while I personally see a value in the foreshadowing that I employ to increase the reader's interest, I do not have big problem with its removal either. James Carroll (talk) 20:19, 16 February 2014 (UTC)
