Street music crackdown?
'IMAGINE A BOOM-BOOM-BOOM FOR 6 HOURS' | Alderman cites noise, crime problem
Ten years ago, Chicago street performers accused downtown Ald. Burton F. Natarus (42nd) of "urban cleansing" for spearheading another one of his infamous crackdowns to tone down their music.
Hide the drumsticks and plastic buckets: Natarus' successor has taken up the crusade.
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) wants to get even tougher on street musicians who drive downtown residents to distraction by banging on plastic buckets all day or playing "The Flintstones" theme song in a continuous loop on the saxophone.
"Imagine a boom-boom-boom for six hours outside your window. If you're trying to work, it sounds as if they're playing their instruments in your office. And it's tremendously disruptive . . . on residents," Reilly said. "Street performer noise comes up at literally every condo association I address."
It's not just a noise problem. Troupes of "bucket boys" set the stage for pickpocketing and snatch-and-grab incidents.
"There is a criminal element. Some crews use their performance merely as a distraction to lure unsuspecting tourists. And there are people in those crews who are tasked with reaching into people's shopping bags, purses or wallets to make off with their valuables," Reilly said, noting some drummers have "lengthy criminal records."
Reilly's ordinance, introduced this week, strengthens Natarus' 2006 crackdown.
A three-strikes-and-you're out clause that strips street performers of their license if they violate the noise limit would drop to just two violations within one year.
That noise limit requires musicians to tone it down so nothing louder than an "average conversational level" can be heard 100 feet away, horizontally or vertically. A violation within 200 feet, primarily caused by amplifiers, would trigger an automatic revocation.
And performers who draw a crowd large enough to obstruct the public way, forcing pedestrians into the street, could be forced to move at least two blocks.