Metro

Gotta have art!

Art vendors who long had peddled their wares in some of Manhattan’s busiest parks protested a new city policy yesterday to limit their numbers, saying it will turn them into starving artists.

“This is one of the only cities in the country where an artist like me can survive, but that’s not the case anymore, I guess,” said Bryan Close, 27, of Brooklyn, who was among 100 artists at Union Square protesting new limits on art vendors.

The city Parks Department has rolled out the restrictions focused on Union Square, Central Park, Battery Park and High Line Park. A maximum of 169 vendors total are now allowed at any time in the four parks — where roughly double that number used to sell their work.

At Union Square, where as many as 100 art vendors once set up tables, the number is now limited to 18 on most days and 58 on the three days of the week when the square’s Green Market is not operating.

The department insists the intent is not to stifle art or starve artists, but to better manage crowded park space.

“We love artists, and all park users. Our goal is to make sure everyone can use the park. We just want balance. It’s not the end of vending, its not the end of art,” said department spokeswoman Vickie Karp.

The rules kicked in after Friday’s decision by federal Judge Richard Sullivan, who upheld the city’s new regulations after artists filed suit to try to block them.

The city has marked the locations where vendors can do business with small medallions in the pavement designating the spot for “expressive matter vendors,” which covers anyone selling art, photography, reading material or sculpture.

Each medallion will mark a spot for just one vendor — and the city policy is that whoever snags the spots first every morning wins them. Violators could be issued a summons or face arrest.

Some artists were furious about the choice of locations, some facing busy streets.

“We’re going to be killed. You have to be 12 feet from the wall, a bench, or a garbage can, but that puts you right up against the street,” said photography vendor John Conn, 61, of The Bronx, while standing at an approved location near the curb on Union Square West.

Protest organizer Robert Lederman, a longtime critic of city policy on street artists, said yesterday’s demonstration was intended to send a message to Mayor Bloomberg.

“The idea that the Parks Department, in the name of safety, wants artists to stand in these dangerous spots shows how little good faith the Parks Department has on this issue,” Lederman said.

Karp said the department will review the art-vendor locations over time.

tom.topousis@nypost.com