Parks department officials issued court summonses to artists in Union Square and Central Park for allegedly violating the rules on the morning of August 26, the day after State Supreme Court Justice Martin Schoenfeld issued the first restraining order. Later that afternoon, the city rescinded those summonses, according to Elizabeth Thomas, a spokesperson for the city's Law Department.

But the city's enforcement efforts allegedly continued at least until Tuesday in Union Square, even after the issuance of a second court order, according to one artist, a woman in her mid-50s who regularly sells paintings and prints there. She asked to remain anonymous due to her involvement in an unrelated legal case. The artist says a group of parks department officials approached her to enforce the rules as she was setting up her display table Tuesday morning. When she told the officials that a judge had just ruled again in the artists' favor, one of them Googled her assertion for evidence. Eventually, they left her alone, she says.

Thomas did not respond to a request for confirmation of the incident, but says the city now plans to abide by the restraining order. "Everyone is working together to ensure that the temporary restraining order is appropriately enforced," she says.