City officials believe they’re getting closer to drafting a law that will bring structure to the street musician scene in downtown Saratoga Springs without overly burdening performers.
Since a first 90-minute public hearing earlier this month that drew busker musicians and their supporters, the proposed law has been softened.
A portion of the law that would have licensed street performers has been dropped. The plan for a $20 license to perform had drawn some of the loudest protests at the public hearing. However, the proposed rules would still limit when and where people can perform.
Street musicians and other performers — known as “buskers” — perform on the sidewalk for the money a crowd and passers-by leave for them. They have been a regular part of the Broadway scene in the summer months, and their numbers appear to be growing. Until now, there have been no special regulations on them.
Sawyer Fredericks, the Fultonville teenager now competing on “The Voice,” has performed in the city since he was a child.
Even though the license proposal has been dropped, under the revised ordinance performers would still be asked to stop their performances at midnight. The proposed rules would also have performers work on the street side of the sidewalk, in an effort to keep their performances and any crowds they draw from blocking access to businesses. Most of them now perform on the building side of the sidewalk, leading to some complaints from businesses.
Under the revised proposal, performers would still be required to be at least 50 feet from each other.
A second City Council public hearing last week, after the revisions were made, drew only about a half-dozen speakers, but the hearing was kept open, to be continued at the May 5 council meeting.
“We’re going to keep working on this until we get it right,” Mayor Joanne Yepsen said before that hearing.
Yepsen said the impetus for the proposed regulation is that some shop owners say they’ve lost business due to congestion caused by buskers and the people who gather around them.
At last week’s public hearing, some speakers still objected to the 50-foot separation proposal, and others to having performances stop at midnight. Several noted that some performers — like street magicians — don’t make a significant amount of noise, so they could perform late at night without being disruptive.
A number of other tourist or campus communities across the United States have laws regulating busking. Some of them have been challenged in federal court, though, and found to be unconstitutional violations of the performers’ free-speech rights.
Reach Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 885-6705, [email protected] or @gazettesteve on Twitter.
