1-Apr-17 – Loud street performers in downtown Chicago would be corralled into an area three blocks wide by 23 blocks long and limited to three hours a day during the week – two hours on Saturday – if an ordinance introduced by 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly is approved by the City Council.

It is more generous than the ordinance Reilly originally introduced, that would have banned altogether amplified street performers from Michigan Avenue and State Street.

Reilly says a compromise worked out with 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins, the mayor’s office, the city’s Law Department, downtown residents and business owners, and the street performer community, “is a better, more equitable ordinance that balances these competing interests and could stand up to judicial scrutiny.”

(Left) The street performer zone stretches from Van Buren Street in the Loop, north along both sides of Michigan Avenue, west along both sides of Oak Street, and south along both sides of Dearborn Street back down to Van Buren. (Click on image to view larger version.)

The ordinance would only affect street performers who use a “bullhorn or electronic amplification, or a musical instrument or other object that is struck manually or with a stick or similar item to produce a sharp percussive noise.” They could only perform Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Reilly said on Friday that in recent years thousands of people have complained about “having to endure hours of non-stop amplified and percussive street noise.”

As part of the compromise, Reilly says he is working to give street performers in general access to more public spaces, including parks and CTA platforms where except for three platforms they are currently prohibited.

The next meeting of the City Council is scheduled for April 19.