ok wickedestcity posted this article in the random post.....I thought maybe it desreved it own thread......I like the street performer.....and no I don't live on Mich ave.....but I am down there often.....school, work and I eat down at Gibson's and rosebud etc fairly often....
.....anyhow is this banning of the street performers more nimbyism......I mean if you don't like noise why move to Mich ave......
also most residential aren't right on mich anyhow.....and those that are are not at street level......
.....our city just was diminished a bit I think
here is article:
City boots street performers off Michigan Avenue
By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 8, 2006, 2:37 PM CST
Responding to complaints from high-rise residents in downtown Chicago, aldermen today voted to ban street performers from four blocks of North Michigan Avenue and to restrict their activities near Millennium Park.
The measure passed on a vote of 42 to 4 at the monthly City Council meeting. Aldermen Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Dorothy Tillman (3rd) and Ricardo Munoz (22nd) voted against it.
"Music is not noise," Tillman said. "Michigan Avenue belongs to all of us."
"I think that is what makes Chicago Chicago, " Hairston said. "I think it brings a lot to the Magnificent Mile."
But other aldermen cited the rights of nearby residents.
Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd) proposed the ordinance after constituents in his ward, which includes downtown and the Near North Side, complained about noise wafting up to their high-rise windows from the street below.
Natarus has said the issue also was one of safety, as people are forced to walk in the street when sidewalk crowds grow too large.
Amendments to Chicago's Street Performer Ordinance apply to all street performances, but especially target so-called "bucket boys," mostly children who bang on five-gallon drums with sticks, sometimes in groups of as many as 20. They attract some tourists who throw money into coffee tins, with the money shared among the drummers.
Those living downtown also have complained of saxophonists who play only one or two songs over and over again.
The city's Committee on Traffic had voted unanimously Monday to recommend full council approval of provisions that:
-- Prohibit all street performances on four blocks of North Michigan Avenue between Delaware Place and Superior Street.
-- Decrease from 200 to 100 feet the distance at which sound must not exceed the conversation level.
-- Prohibit performance-related sound to 80 decibels, when measured from 10 feet.
-- Put new noise restrictions around Millennium Park during performances at Pritzker Pavilion.
-- Increase the cost of a performance permit from $50 to $75.
-- Stop street performances exceeding 55 decibels at 8 p.m. instead of 9 p.m., or 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Some residents wanted performers banned entirely from the Michigan Avenue, but Natarus shot down that idea.
The four-block stretch covered by the amendments is one of the most congested in the city, meaning that the ban may get legal clearance because it's a safety issue, the alderman has said, noting a federal judge could find a total ban unconstitutional.
In other action today, the council increased the fines for talking on cellular telephones while driving to $75 from $50.
It also received about 35,000 postcards from Chicagoans in support of a proposed Elephant Protection Ordinance. The postcards had been delivered to Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48th), sponsor of the measure.
Smith said a hearing on the proposal has been scheduled for Feb. 23.
Supported by animal rights activists, including the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the ordinance would ban disciplinary methods that hurt elephants, including the use of bullhooks -- sharp steel tools used to control the animals -- as well as electric shock devices and chains.> |
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