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New war erupts around Sam Adams - this time, between street performers jostling for space under his statue

Complaint from a tourist that got city councilor to consider busker regulations

E-mail complaint to the mayor's office that helped spur LaMattina into action

With additional reporting by Kayla Canne.

City Councilor Sal LaMattina says he enjoys street performers. But faced with complaints about "bullying" from the amplifier-enhanced dancers in front of Faneuil Hall - from both tourists and other performers - he says it's time for Boston to consider some sort of busker regulations.

The City Council today agreed with a request from LaMattina, who represents the North End, and Councilor Bill Linehan, who represents downtown, for a hearing on street-performer permits, which they say would give police a better way to enforce municipal noise ordinances and prevent bullying by setting up a schedule of fines. Under their initial proposal, the city DPW would issue annual permits, which could be revoked for five or more violations.

Although the proposed ordinance calls for an annual $40 license fee for each performer, LaMattina said he's not that concerned about the money that would be raised, because his goal is to give all street performers a shot at popular locations. And he said he could foresee some sort of scheduling mechanism for an area like the space in front of Faneuil Hall - which, unlike the areas around the Quincy Market building, is not overseen and regulated by the company that leases the marketplace from the city.

LaMattina pointed to Cambridge, which already regulates street performers. Boston had a stringent set of regulations until 2006, when it agreed to rip them up after a group of street performers filed a First Amendment suit against the city. He said he has gotten complaints for years from both residents and performers about being "harassed and threatened" - most recently from a performer who lives in the North End whom he said was bullied out of trying to perform in front of Faneuil Hall.

Councilor Tim McCarthy said he would welcome regulations that would cut down on "offensive" language and "music so loud you can't even walk by and not have a conversation."

Councilors Tito Jackson (Roxbury) and Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill) said they appreciated the opportunity for a hearing - to which street performers would be invited to testify - but raised the First Amendment as a major issue.

Jackson noted that what some consider "offensive" speech is protected under the First Amendment. "Just ask Donald Trump," he said. He worried that any regulations would go too far and penalize particular groups. And he pointed to efforts by Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., which runs Faneuil Hall Marketplace, to crack down on buskers and to push out some of the market's pushcart operators. He urged fellow councilors to "be cautious to not step in the same pile of Ashkenazy that is out there" and said the DPW is not the city department he'd want ruling on First-Amendment questions.

Zakim, who noted many street performers use the Dartmouth Street side of the BPL in Copley Square, said that what may be a bigger threat to the safety of visitors is the stunts done by the roller bladers and skateboarders who also use that area.

Councilor Michelle Wu said she is concerned about the ramifications of setting up yet another city permitting system; she said the reason she got into Boston politics in the first place was that she got incredibly frustrated trying to get all the permits she needed to set up a small business here after moving from Chicago.

Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large), said buskers add enormous vitality to the city - and even help spur economic growth - and that the council should draft an ordinance that will lead to the same sort of sidewalk sharing as the city is trying to bring about for motorists and bicyclists on city streets.

Before the hearing, street performer Stephen Baird of Jamaica Plain - who lead the successful suit against the earlier city regulations and who helped draft Cambridge busker rules in 1990 - said news of the proposed ordinance came to the busker community as a complete shock.

"Most [performers] have no clue this is happening," he said.

Baird said he wrote the city council offering his help in drafting Cambridge-like rules for Boston but that he has not heard back. He also asked for a copy of the proposed law but has not received one. The lack of public input concerns Baird, who said this could've been a collaborative process.

Permits are effective in decreasing the number of arrests, Baird said, adding that he would not be completely opposed to a permitting process in Boston. But Baird said any legislation has to protect the freedom of expression that performers are entitled to.

"I like permits because right now ... the police can use other law and it's very discretionary – you're blocking too much of the traffic or it's disorderly conduct," he said. "If you have a piece of paper that says you can do it, it stops the opportunity to arrest. I have a real problem on enforcement practices and geographical limitations that favor a select group of people, and if any of those elements are in this new law then I will challenge it."

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Comments

n/t

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Ban amplification.

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Sal Lamatina Talent Agency for that license, okay? If you can't find him to pay him in person, look for an ice cream truck, he's usually chasing them with a db meter, or doing anything other than solving real issues in his neck of the woods.

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Bhahaha. No but really, i'v seen those break dances accost people on multiple occasions.

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"be caustious to not step in the same pile of Ashkenazi that is out there"

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Which I've fixed.

Second, Jackson is, to put it mildly, no fan of the company.

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I definitely thought that was a Nazi reference on first read.

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Any of these people watching could have walked away, could they not? I mean, I'm all for sensible permitting, but this complaint is about spoken content. Who's going to be judging that?

The people can judge with their money and feet, can't they? If so disgusted, they could have continued on touristing the mostly mediocre Quincy Market, without disturbance. Downtown Boston is not a theme park.

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Clearly, you don't work in the area, or you would know that it is nearly impossible to escape the amplified assault of the aggressive fundraising performance troupes that occupy Faneuil Hall marketplace.

Or, by "walking away" you must mean "remove yourself from a 1/4 mile radius" of many stores, restaurants, and transit.

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Amplification can be addressed through simple permitting to give an enforcement regime for existing noise laws. What the emailer cared the most about could be considered harassing behavior, if you were unable to leave, like work, or class, or it continued in your daily routine which should not have needed to be altered.

Is it really that easy to be harassed within a 1/4 mi area? Will the busker continue to harass you around the corners of the market? Waste voice on you while walking away, ignoring his audience? Plenty of other spaces and stores in that area are out of view.

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The city is not a quiet place. If a guy on a guitar wants to be heard, he needs an amp. It's hard to be heard and draw a crowd if you're little James Taylor singing softly in the corner.

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The current noise ordinance doesn't preclude amps. I should have said excessive amplification can be addressed.

16-26 UNREASONABLE NOISE.
16-26.1 General Prohibition and Definitions.
No person shall make or cause to be made any unreasonable or excessive noise in the City, by whatever means or from whatever means or from whatever source.
As used herein, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
a. dBa shall mean A-weighted sound level in decibels, as measured by a general purpose sound level meter complying with the provisions of the American National Standards Institute, “Specifications for Sound Level Meters (ANSI S1.4 1971)”, properly calibrated, and operated on the “A” weighting network.
b. Loud amplification device or similar equipment shall mean a radio, television, phonograph, stereo, record player, tape player, cassette player, compact disc player, loud speaker, or sound amplifier which is operated in such a manner that it creates unreasonable or excessive noise.
c. Unreasonable or excessive noise shall mean
1. Noise measured in excess of 50 dBa between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., or in excess of 70 dBa at all other hours; or
2. In the absence of an applicable noise level standard or regulation of the Air Pollution Control Commission, any noise plainly audible at a distance of three hundred (300') feet or, in the case of loud amplification devices or similar equipment, noise plainly audible at a distance of one hundred (100') feet from its source by a person of normal hearing.
(Ord. 714 § 354; Ord. 1991 c. 4 § 1) Penalty, see subsection 16-32.6

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Is it still okay for the "spoken word" to have racial undertones in it like mentioned in the person's letter to city council? Did these guys really say some of those things? If people are being offended and walk away from the performance, that doesn't that their feeling of embarrassment and being offended will automatically disappear.

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BTW, you're right, I don't work down there. But I drive through there weekly to get to MGH. Sometimes, I even walk through!

Do you commute from the suburbs? Is that why you find this environment so burdensome? I'm not trying to be snarky, I just find the area around Faneuil Hall to be not really coming up on my city problems/annoyances meter.

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But that area is a tourist trap, in general. People don't go there for the performances outside. They go for Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market but get sucked into the performances because they're curious and otherwise oblivious tourists. I can't imagine most of the buskers there are just taking advantage of that. That's just me projecting, though I don't have much to discredit it beyond my experience there. To me the issue isn't so much the noise as it is the harassment in general.

Plenty of the more "respectable" buskers can be found at the MBTA. Hell, one of my favorites was at Porter this morning.

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As a person who works in Faneuil Hall, all the noise and racial slurs being through around by this one particular group is incredibly annoying. The noise is amplified through a speaker and then reverberates off of Faneuil Hall, City Hall, and 60 State Street.

I'm not saying that they should only have acoustic groups there, but when you can't get any work done in your office because of the same spastic 15 seconds of music being played over and over again at a high volume keeps coming through the walls, it is just about impossible.

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I remember some guys used to get onto the T at various stops, wait until the doors closed, put a boombox at one end of the T, blast it, start yelling "everyone look at the black people!, start dancing, then finally ask for money. Sound like the group you're talking about?

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I wonder why nobody is willing to say anything directly to these gentlemen?

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.

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I wonder which one the email person is talking about at Quincy Market. The only ones I've seen there are the break dancers. They are entertaining there for all of 30 seconds, after that the shtick gets old. But they are there almost every day with a crowd

I've never heard them say anything bad (I walk by daily), but they are aggressive about asking for money. But not to the extent that is said in the email. And the music, I will second that. But it's hard to gauge how loud it is and how much is reverberation from the surrounding buildings. But it is loud to say the least.

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The music is so loud that you can easily make out what song it is while standing near the Government Center T stop. That shouldn't be allowed. But I have walked by many times and never heard them harass anyone.

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as it was Thursday!!!

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There was a crew in Copley Square who sound like this bunch. They were loud and didn't seem to do anything, but they draw crowds. If there was a means, I would have complained about them.

This shouldn't be a money grab. This shouldn't limit legitimate performers, but as Baird says, it can be done right and all will win.

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From my observation, aside from Keytar Bear who seems to be a magnet for trouble, most of the street performer trouble comes from the Faneuil Hall "troupes". The break dancers, the acrobats (when they are around), etc. These types of performers run a hustle of milking the crowd for money for about 10-15 minutes before even getting to a small amount of performance. I mean, when was the last time anyone saw a statue person cause trouble? Even though I don't get why anyone would want to pretend to be a statue.

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See rule 34

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The guys who control that spot near Sam Adams (aka the break dancers) act like they own that spot. When they are taking a break they put out cones to mark their "territory". They ARE aggressive with their fund-raising and while I cannot personally verify that they would behave the way the email describes, I have no reason to question that plausible account.

They should not be able to control that spot day in and day out, as they do. Yes, the public can act with their feet, but the problem is that it's a new crop of tourists every day. They don't know these guys are not that talented and so they wait around hoping for the big payoff (which really means they wait until they get pushed to give money.)

As I said the other day, some regulations are welcome. If Cambridge has a "scheduling" system that keeps one performer from hogging the best spot in town, then I say find out what they do and bring it across the river.

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I agree with you, the Cambridge system is good and might do good in Boston. I just don't favor a body that would be judging the content of non-musical performers. The buskers are not mandated to be ambassadors of the city, they are not on the public payroll, and you can't force their legal behaviors to comply to a Disney guest experience expectation guideline.

I sort of like NYC subway's music busker permit auditions, though. Saves you from "musical renditions" that conceivably, no one could like or enjoy. http://untappedcities.com/2014/05/21/cities-101-is-busking-illegal-in-ny...

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The dummy in the mayors office across the street from the Sam Adams statue said it was fine for people to mark their territory on public land with cones for weeks on end last winter so I don't see them stopping this. And if they do and continue to allow space savers then they couldn't be bigger hypocrites.

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Stop disrespecting the legacy of Mayor Menino!

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I think the use of the word "thug" in his complaint shows where his bias is. And there are definitely some issues of free speech at play here. However, if the city decides on permiting and then they don't issue permits to the Haymarket space, so be it.

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Well at least the performers aren't out shooting people and robbing people when they're not performing. ??

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You are one terrified paranoid, aren't you.

BTW, there was plenty of drug addiction in the 1950s, and much more spouse and child abuse because that was considered to be normal.

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Wouldn't be missed by anyone.

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when you pander to the hucksters. Tito if these hucksters were Trump supporters the city would be shut down.

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when you pander to the hucksters. Tito if these hucksters were Trump supporters the city would be shut down.

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Does anyone know when and where that hearing will take place? As a local resident, I will definitely want to participate.

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Usually takes a few days for the committee chair to pick a date.

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Thank you. I presume it will be posted somewhere on http://www.cityofboston.gov/

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Regardless of this debate over busking, Boston has rules concerning excessive noise. Not a lot of people know this, but the authority over that area outside Faneuil Hall is the Boston City Hall security office, which can be reached at (617) 635-4595. They will enforce the city's noise regulations, if enough people call.

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311 is the number you should call. They track all incoming calls and if that many people are calling about the same issue maybe something will get done.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/11/boston-launches-non-emergen...

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Whatever behaviors the city might ban to deal with offensive performers like these should be banned without requiring permits or charging money.

As for the racism, it would be great of some of the organizations in the city that work against racism had a word with these performers. And if that didn't work, they could organize a protest.

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