SANTA CRUZ STREET PERFORMERS GUIDELINES

Dear performer,
This paper was designed by and agreed to by your fellow performers. We are making them available to merchants, and city officials, so that everybody knows the agreement. It might be handed to you by one of them but it comes
from many of us.

In 1980, thirty-five Santa Cruz street performers met to address a proposal by city officials to pass laws that would ban or severely restrict street performing
in Santa Cruz. In an effort to avoid inflexible laws, the performers proposed instead, to come to an agreement that recognized the rights of performers, people working in the businesses, downtown residents, and others who use
the downtown. 35 street performers came to consensus on those guidelines and agreement was reached with merchants, the Downtown Neighbors'Association, the City Council and other interested parties. A few times since,
performers met with representatives of the Downtown Association, city officials, and others to update the agreement.

The following list of voluntary guidelines represents that agreement. We believe that these guidelines reflect the unwritten rules that street performers have worked with for centuries (street performing is at least as old as stores).

HOURLY ROTATION
It is recognized that one performer or act monopolizing an area for a long time can make it difficult for other performers and for the people working in the downtown businesses. One-hour rotation is thought to be reasonable. It is also recognized that the performances take place in front of businesses and that the people working in that business may ask a performer to relocate after one hour if they are experiencing a problem. While it is agreed that the public streets belong to no one, it is suggested that talking with people working in the stores will many times help to prevent misunderstandings.

BLOCKING PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC
Gathering a crowd so large that they block the sidewalk can create a problem for people trying to pass by. The performer is usually in the best position to address the audience and help to keep a clear passage on the sidewalk and through doorways. It is also recognized that performances taking place in front of business doorways and windows can be problematic, and that people working in these businesses have a right to request that performers move aside to prevent that problem.

SPACING
It is recognized that too many performers on one block combine to create a sound that is disturbing to all, including the workers and passers-by (the audience). It is suggested that musicians be sensitive to their instruments (the sound of bagpipes or conga drums carry further than that of a dulcimer).

DOWNTOWN RESIDENTS
It is also recognized that we share the downtown area with downtown residents. When he was still alive and active on behalf of the rights of street performers, Tom Scribner (the street performer whose statue still entertains on Pacific Avenue) asked that we respect his and other residents' need for sleep. The city has a curfew on noise disturbance. From 10:00pm till 8:00am musicians are in danger of being cited under this ordinance.

CONTRIBUTIONS
Contributions from satisfied listeners is the only financial support afforded to a sidewalk entertainer. Offensive vocal solicitation is not only rude behavior
that works against all street performers but is not very good for tips either. An open instrument case or other receptacle is considered appropriate.

YOUR COOPERATION AND RESPECT FOR OUR NEIGHBORS IS
APPRECIATED

"Sidewalk entertainment has no cover charge. There is no age limit, no dress code, and no minimum drink. And it's not plugged into any nuclear power plant or any other source of power but natural human energy." ......Artis the
Spoonman


GENERAL FRAMEWORK FOR PROCESS REGARDING STREET PERFORMERS
December 6, 2002
[Developed collaboratively by a group of street performers committed to engaging in this process]


We approach this process with an overall attitude of mutual respect and common courtesy downtown, hoping for the same attitude among all the stakeholders. The existing Street
Performers Voluntary Guidelines (reprinted on reverse) is a compromise agreement describing neighborly behavior downtown based on mutual respect. It can only work if all
the downtown stakeholders---street performers, businesses, residents, police, government officials, downtown hosts---understand it and are aware of it before potential problems
arise. It has worked in the past to keep conflicts with street performers to a minimum, and will work now and into the future if current and future stakeholders are aware of and agree to its contents.

1. Understanding of Street Performers Voluntary Guidelines
Acknowledging that there are some downtown who would like to reopen the process of mutual agreement, we commit ourselves to looking for ways to accommodate everyone's
concerns. Such a process alone might serve as an educational tool for understanding why we all had previously agreed to the existing Voluntary Guidelines, and then we can see if there is a need for amendment. The Voluntary Guidelines program works best when all parties involved understand how they are meant to function to better the atmosphere downtown.

(a) Street performers meet among themselves to review existing Voluntary Guidelines, and come to consensus on this, or a first draft of a revised version. We also will describe our understanding of how the Voluntary Guidelines, ordinances, and enforcement policies can interact with each other.

(b) A Facilitators group forms to make contact with interested downtown stakeholders, and to encourage discussion among these groups. First amendment rights, neighborly behavior and respect will be part of these discussions. This group can help to provide clarification of how the Voluntary Guidelines, ordinances, and enforcement policies can interact with each other.

(c) Voluntary Guidelines are presented to stakeholders by street performers representative, including why we think they are reasonable. We listen to their perspectives
about neighborly behavior downtown, and what solutions they think could work that may not be included.

(d) Street performers meet among themselves to consider feedback from other stakeholders. More dialogue among groups may occur so we can come to a mutually-acceptable compromise.

2. Education and Ongoing Understanding
A method for ongoing understanding of Voluntary Street Performer Guidelines by all stakeholders will be developed during discussions among facilitators and stakeholders.

3. Measures and Progress Reports
The Downtown Commission has asked police for monthly reports regarding number of calls and arrests downtown with two categories: (1) all events in the overall downtown
area, and (2) events specifically on Pacific Avenue. We would like to see a monthly report of the number of complaints, tickets and arrests downtown instead--and we must be able to distinguish which involve street performing in particular. ("Calls" could include informational questions as well as complaints, and doesn't get to the heart of the matter in our opinion.) We also need to have access to similar police data from the past to see what
changes occur over time. Representative(s) of street performers and facilitators will give verbal progress reports to Downtown Commission monthly beginning in February 2003.


DOWNTOWN COMMISSION RESOLUTIONS OF DECEMBER 2ND (PASSED 5-2)


The Downtown Commission makes the following recommendation to the City Council:

1) Rescind Display Device ordinance 2002-36 to distances currently in effect (1994 ordinance).

2) Instruct the city attorney to research and, if possible, implement language in the Display Device and Aggressive Solicitation ordinances that will allow street performers to accept donations in guitar cases, hats, or other containers.

3) Have the Downtown Commission encourage and oversee
a process to work with interested parties who wish to
form a street performers guild and those who wish to
facilitate conflicts arising around street performers.
Both of these groups should make monthly reports to
the Downtown Commission starting February, 2003. The
overall effectiveness of these two groups will be
evaluated by the Downtown Commission in September,
2003. The City Council will subsequently evaluate the
Downtown Commission's evaluation in October, 2003.

4) If conflicts are not being resolved by the two
aformentioned citizen-formed groups, the process
recommended by the June, 1996 Downtown Santa Cruz
Public Policy Mediation Project should be enacted
through the guidance of the Downtown Commission.

5) Request that the Santa Cruz Police Department supply written monthly reports to the Downtown Commission regarding the number of calls and arrests in the Downtown Commercial District with data that also shows the same on just Pacific Avenue.


STAFF PERFORMER-HOSTILE REPORT IN CONFLICT WITH DOWNTOWN COMMISSION AND STREET PERFORMERS PROPOSALS

The Downtown Commission has worked very hard to develop recommendations that respond to the major issues identified by the public and street performers. Staff shares many of the same concerns and fully understands and appreciates the need to provide as much flexibility as possible. Nonetheless, staff has several concerns regarding the recommendations.

With respect to exempting street performers from the ordinance and relying solely on voluntary guidelines, this essentially eliminates all regulations on street performers and the ability of the Police Department to enforce conflicts that regularly arise between street performers, merchants and others who come downtown. While many, if not most, performers will be respectful, others will not. An additional concern regarding this provision is that it gives privileges to one group over others. Under the Downtown Commission’s proposal, only street performers would be able to use a display device and solicit for donations within the distance requirements of the display device ordinance. It is important to point out that the current regulations are activity neutral in that they do not regulate any specific activity (i.e., street performances, individuals with political tables, etc.) and instead only come into play when something is placed on the sidewalk for displaying things and soliciting for donations, so that all activities are treated equally. There is a certain level of public perception that the City actually has regulations specifically for street performers and that the ordinance changes adopted in July by the City Council would ban street performers.

Previous proposals to provide more flexibility to street performers were based on the premise that they would be regulated in a manner that allowed performers to conduct their activity while not negatively impacting others. While this approach created a specific set of guidelines for street performers, it did not completely exempt them from being regulated. The Downtown Issues Working Group considered such a proposal that would exempt street performers from the display device ordinance and then create a new chapter in the code that would regulate street performers. In general, the proposal involved street performance agreements so as to codify the guidelines for street performers and provide enforcement capabilities in exchange for access to public space in a manner consistent with the needs of merchants, pedestrians and street performers. One of the most significant provisions was that it would allow street performers to perform adjacent to buildings in a way that they did not interfere with the businesses, pedestrians and others.

With respect to the Downtown Commission recommendation to repeal Ordinance No. 2002-36 and go back to the pre-existing ordinance, staff also has concerns. One of the major reasons for Ordinance No. 2002-36 was to create consistent distance requirements to 14 feet. The pre-existing ordinance has varying distance requirements that make it difficult to enforce as well as for the public to understand. A consistent distance requirement, therefore, would be preferable.

In light of these concerns, there are several options that the Council may wish to consider. If the Council wishes to address the desire of street performers to perform in areas within the distance requirements and that is compatible with the needs of merchants, pedestrians and others, Council could create a new chapter of the municipal code that addresses street performers. This option, however, probably is most likely to succeed if the musicians, merchants, Downtown Association and others are able to come up with regulations that will address each other’s concerns. Coleen Douglas has offered to mediate and facilitate a process that would create a street performers’ guild, which might be able to develop such a proposal for Council consideration.

If the goal is to increase the amount of space available for those that wish to use a display device for street performances or political tables, Council may want to modify the distance requirement to 10 or 12 feet from all of the locations in the display device ordinance. This would provide consistent distances within this ordinance. The major disadvantage of the 10 feet is that because of the large amount of activity on Pacific Avenue, 10 feet can create more congested situations, particularly on the narrower sidewalk sections. Also, the difference between 12 feet and 14 feet is not very significant. Attachment 7 provides a list and maps of sidewalk areas that are available for non-commercial displays under the 14-foot provisions.

Another option that the Council could reconsider that has a certain level of simplicity is to designate areas within the distance requirements where street performers, individuals with political tables and others that fall within the display device ordinance would be able to conduct these activities. The areas could be designated by resolution so that they could be changed with the on-going changes of the downtown. One major advantage of this approach is that it is also activity neutral.

Submitted by: Martín Bernal Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Richard C. Wilson City Manager