Street musicians - ordinance?

[eperdu]

Hi Everyone,

We are having an issue with street musicians in our small, historic downtown area and our ordinance is currently silent on the issue. The only portion of our ordinance remotely dealing with this is the noise ordinance. When the police enforced it and asked the gentleman to move along, that started a firestorm of controversy including involvement by the ACLU. The City Council has, for now, suspended enforcement of the noise ordinance as it relates to street musicians pending staff review of our ordinances.

So, do any of you have experience with regulating and/or permitting street musicians? And the very fine line we are walking here with panhandling?

Any help is greatly appreciated,
Erin

Identical thread in the Economic Development subforum deleted. Please, only one thread per topic. See Fourm Rules.

[der Bebauungsplan]

I don't have any direct experience with the issue. However, you may find this discussion helpful in figuring out what you can and cannot regulate

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=21232

[Gotta Speakup]

While this topic is under discussion, could anyone suggest how to regulate mimes?

[Planderella]

I don't have any direct experience with this, but I do know that the City of New Orleans is currently engaged in a battle with street musicians over enforcement of an ordinance that prohibits live music played in the streets after 8 pm.

[Queen B]

I don't have anything but what about a licensure with some strings attanched like time and place. I like street musicians but do understand that it has the potential to be an issue.

[Richmond Jake]

While this topic is under discussion, could anyone suggest how to regulate mimes?

The first question to solve is how to get 'em out of their damn boxes. Then we regulate the hell out of them.

[thinknik]

Here's my advice: Call the City of St. Augustine, Florida city planner. To make a long story short, they have successfully regulated the streets where performers became a problem.