Jun 3, 2009 5:43 pm US/Central
City Council Seeks Crackdown On Street Performers
Performers Called Disruptive To Office Workers, Pedestrians
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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"Bucket boys" drum along Chicago's State Street.
CBS
Drumming is just one of the many sounds you hear most every day in Chicago but the bucket boys and other entertainers like them could soon be muffled.
CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports that whether it's the "bucket boys", or the sax player who likes the theme from the Flintstones, it has us asking the musical question: is it music or a sour note?
The City Council approved a measure Wednesday that allows police to revoke a street performer's license for a year after two serious excessive noise citations now instead of three, or immediately in the case of extreme volume.
To many it sure sounds like summer when Chicago's street musicians begin to play.
"I see it as music. It's really the pulse that we beat to when we walk on State Street," said Chicagoan Christopher Wilson.
But in some nearby office buildings the last thing it sounds like is music to anyone's ears.
"The noise is so humongous that you cannot conduct your business," said physician's office administrator Anni Steinmetz.
This doctor's practice is three floors above a popular musician's corner.
"Patients need to converse with their doctors, doctors need to converse with their patients," Steinmetz said. "If you cannot hear the patient or the patient cannot hear the doctor, we have a problem."
"You can't talk on the phone or watch TV normally when the window is open," said Gold Coast resident Kathy Posner.
You would think at 44 floors above Michigan Avenue the sound might fade away but Kathy Posner says it's bad enough her cell phone even recorded it.
"To have street performers who have no talent at all perform the same song over and over, it's not talent, it's aggravating," Posner said.
The ordinance was proposed by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who represents the Loop and Near North Side.
"We have been getting literally hundreds of complaints a month regarding street performers," Ald. Reilly said.
Ald. Reilly believes the city should have stronger powers to police Chicago's 570 licensed street performers. He says they should lose those licenses after just one extreme violation that legally drowns out normal sounds from a considerable distance away.
The performers say they don't like the sound of that.
"They gave us a permit to make noise," drummer Howard Wallace said.
In the past, when the city tried to turn down the volume of street performers, mimes, blues guitarists and singers descended on City Hall. On Wednesday, the committee's action was met by applause from dozens of office workers and high-rise residents.
A current ordinance strips the license from street performers whose music rises above an "average conversational level" three times. The proposed ordinance strips the performance license after two violations within a year.
In 2006, the City Council approved a proposal by then-Ald. Burton Natarus calling for
a ban on street performers on Michigan Avenue between Delaware Place and Superior Street.
Natarus had been calling for restrictions on street performers for more than two decades before that. He lost his bid for reelection in 2007 to Reilly.
In the months ahead, not everyone gathered around enjoying the sounds of Chicago's street performers will be fans. Ald. Reilly says undercover officers will be in the crowds conducting stings in case the music gets too loud.
CBS 2's Vince Gerasole and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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