One of the things I love about Chicago (any big city) are the street performers... Chicago wants them gone.
Mag Mile noise drums up anger
City considers limits on street performers
By Charles Sheehan
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 7, 2006
The words "jackhammers," "war zones" and "hell" rarely accompany the word "magnificent" in conversation, but they did repeatedly Monday as residents of the Magnificent Mile described what it's like to live among street performers on a daily basis.
Those residents may get a reprieve Wednesday when the City Council votes on new restrictions for street performers that would tone down the volume and restrict where and when they can perform.
Amendments to Chicago's Street Performer Ordinance would apply to all street performances, but the greatest vitriol was saved for bucket boys, mostly made up of children, who bang on five-gallon drums with sticks, sometimes in groups of as many as 20. They are a huge hit with tourists who throw scads of money into coffee tins, which is then pooled among the drummers.
Although residents acknowledge that crowded sidewalks are part of the allure of living on or near North Michigan Avenue, they say out-of-towners are feeding a nightmare by making the bucket such a lucrative instrument to play.
"I'm talking about not being able to have a conversation in my own home, listen to music, anything, without that bang, bang, bang, bang, bang," said Phyllis Mellow, who lives on the 33rd floor at Michigan Avenue and Chestnut Street. "If you go shopping on Michigan, you can walk by it. But it is all day for us."
Those living downtown also complained of saxophonists who play only one or two songs over and over again. The music from two TV series in particular, "The Flintstones" and "The Simpsons," are perpetually rattling in the heads of everyone living on the Magnificent Mile, they said.
A growing number of performers painted gold, copper and silver who move mechanically for small change have attracted large crowds that gather near bus stops and other inconvenient spots, said Ginny Hourigan, who lives near Michigan Avenue.
"Silver was the first guy, and when he started making a lot of money, the gold guy showed up and then the bronze guy," Hourigan said. "There's a red lady too."
At issue is how much the city can infringe on 1st Amendment rights and whether limiting performances would make a stroll down Michigan Avenue less lively for visitors, who on a day-to-day basis vastly outnumber the people who live there.
The presence of street performers also is a safety issue, said Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd.) The issue came before the Committee on Traffic because people are forced onto the street when sidewalk crowds grow large, Natarus said.
The committee voted unanimously to forward the amended ordinance to the City Council, though both Aldermen Freddrenna Lyle (6th) and Bernard Stone (50th) had reservations.
When Richard Roman, owner of the Signature Room restaurant and chairman of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, testified that street performers disrupt business, Stone lashed out.
"This is the public's place. It belongs to the public," Stone said. "It doesn't belong to you who have stores along the way. One of the things that makes Michigan Avenue wonderful is the fact that people can perform along the public way."
That prompted residents to shout down Stone.
Brian Hopkins, who lives in the 500 block of North Michigan, said Stone's talk of the "public space" rang hollow and said he would pay some of the bucket boys to perform outside of Stone's condominium on the Far North Side.
"I think after maybe the first day, possibly the second, your attitude might suffer a sudden change," he said.
Stone voted to support changes to the ordinance for safety reasons.
The ordinance would ban all street performances on Michigan Avenue in a four-block stretch from Delaware Place to Superior Street. It would also limit noise outside Millennium Park during concerts at the Pritzker Pavilion.
Those amendments have people who live between Millennium Park and Superior Street worried that performers would be squeezed onto sidewalks in front of their buildings.
They want a total ban on Michigan Avenue,
Chi town wants SILENCE...BULLSH*T!!!
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Chi town wants SILENCE...BULLSH*T!!!
Now that Johnnie's gone, I guess I should start being nice to the cops.