mnozzolio
12-23-03, 06:05 PM
The following is from the Miami Herald, 12/22/03
A battle for the streets: Miami Beach and its artists fight for space
BY NICOLE WHITE
nwhite@herald.com
(photo)
A PUBLIC STAGE: Street entertainer Mitchell Chonin, who dances and sings at Lincoln Road Mall to taped hits from decades past, strikes a pose for pedestrians. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
Aretha Franklin is moving through Mitchell Chonin's soul as her deep drawl booms ''R-E-S-P-E-C-T'' from his tape deck.
Chonin seems hypnotized, twirling around, shaking his glitterari-disco boots, daring passersby on Miami Beach's Lincoln Road to dance with him.
The music is loud -- maybe too loud for some -- and no one else is dancing. But for the first time in years, Chonin is free to dance to the queen of soul without worrying about breaking the law.
Miami Beach has lost a significant round in its years-long effort to regulate street performers. Now, Chonin can dance anywhere in the city without having to whip out a copy of a city permit.
''This is art; why would they want to restrict that?'' asks Chonin, his hips now swiveling to the The Twist.
Why indeed, asked Miami-Dade County Court Judge Mary Jo Francis. Last month, she declared unconstitutional a city ordinance limiting performers and artists to 11 locations throughout the city.
Under the ordinance, only two performers are allowed at each location, chosen by lottery every three months from scores of applicants.
The ruling overturning the ordinance stemmed from the case of Ron O'Daniels, a 45-year-old former homeless man who spent 23 days in jail for playing his guitar on Ocean Drive without a permit.
O'Daniels' attorney, public defender Jairo Lanao, called the ruling ''vindication'' for his client: ``This man had no criminal record, he stood up for his principle. How could they punish him for something as simple as playing a guitar?''
The state attorney's office, which prosecuted the case, is appealing the ruling. In the meantime, some performers say the city is now using a new panhandling ordinance to deter them from performing or selling their art.
Miami Beach is just one of a number of cities in South Florida and elsewhere that want to strictly regulate performers, vendors and the homeless. The cities argue that they're trying to protect their quality of life, but free speech advocates say they're trying to stifle First Amendment rights.
FINDING A BALANCE
While cities including Fort Lauderdale and Key West have stiff laws banning panhandling from the homeless in their central business districts, Miami Beach more than any other municipality has waged a crusade against individuals simply because they are poor, said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, president of the Miami chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
''What you have is a spineless commission held hostage by its business community, a commission that's allowing the business community to take over public property and make it their own private domain,'' she said.
Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer said the city has a right to balance the needs of its business and residential communities: ``I can understand and respect where the ACLU is coming from, but I just happen to think that we do need to have a balance. You can't have a free-for-all.''
Dermer said the street performer ordinance was not intended to curtail people's ability to express themselves, but rather to design a process that was orderly yet protective of individual rights.
''There are people who are trying to eat, trying to shop -- why shouldn't they be allowed to do so?'' said Dermer. ``We were only asking performers and vendors to do so in an orderly and controlled manner.''
The squabble is somewhat ironic, said former Miami Beach Commissioner Nancy Liebman. Liebman, once dubbed the queen of regulation, remembers when the streets of South Beach were an eyesore and no one wanted to visit.
She called Judge Francis' ruling a setback for a city that fought hard to become the tourism magnet of the region.
''The city should have every right to regulate what happens on public property. We spent millions of dollars renovating Lincoln Road, and then we had a crisis: There were vendors everywhere. It was like an everyday flea market,'' said Liebman.
Now that the city can't use the permit ordinance, street performers say they're being cited for violations of its panhandling rules.
CONTINUED WARNINGS
The devil is in the language, said artist and vendor Hector Godoy. The city ordinance defines panhandling as ``begging, asking or soliciting in person for an immediate donation of money or other thing of value for charity or personal gain, either by words, bodily gestures, signs or other means indicating one is seeking an immediate donation or other thing of value.''
Godoy said he was warned by a Miami Beach police officer that he would be arrested as a nonaggressive panhandler.
''I'm going out there thinking there is still a chance I'm going to get arrested,'' said Godoy. ``It is unbelievable to me that I live and pay taxes in Miami Beach, yet I cannot make a living here.''
Miami Beach police spokesman Robert Hernandez said that anyone who feels unfairly treated by an officer has the right to file a complaint.
''The objective is to remove panhandlers from the entertainment district, and its geared toward the homeless,'' said Hernandez. The truth of the matter, said Hernandez, ``is you have street performers who are also panhandlers, and so they may be arrested.''
As the city waits out the appeal process, officials may consider the benefits street performers and artists have brought to cities like San Francisco, Boston and even Key West, said Jorge Hernandez, a University of Miami professor of architecture.
''Urban theater has been one of the most joyous cultural phenomenons. They add a certain edge to urban living and should be encouraged,'' he said.
Even in New York, a city that's undertaken a flood of quality-of-life crackdowns, street performers still have the ability to attract tourists, said Hernandez, who spoke of seeing spellbound onlookers standing for an hour to watch two break dancers perform.
''It was spontaneous and delightful, and people stood there and watched them perform even in the biting cold,'' Hernandez said.
STREET BENEFITS
Then there is this: If Boston had banned street performers, the world might never have heard of Tracy Chapman. The Grammy-award winning crooner from the '80s who fused blues, funk and folk honed her chops as a street performer on the city's subway platforms and in Cambridge's Harvard Square .
''It is a way of encouraging an embryonic lifestyle. Otherwise, you may stifle people who may have a genuine shot at stardom,'' Hernandez said.
And Chonin, who continues to twist and twirl away on Lincoln Road, is a refreshing fixture on a street that would otherwise be bland, said Miami Beach resident Todd Preston: ``He's got a lot of guts, he's uninhibited and I don't see anything wrong with it. Everybody's got to make a living.''
A battle for the streets: Miami Beach and its artists fight for space
BY NICOLE WHITE
nwhite@herald.com
(photo)
A PUBLIC STAGE: Street entertainer Mitchell Chonin, who dances and sings at Lincoln Road Mall to taped hits from decades past, strikes a pose for pedestrians. MARIANNE ARMSHAW/FOR THE HERALD
Aretha Franklin is moving through Mitchell Chonin's soul as her deep drawl booms ''R-E-S-P-E-C-T'' from his tape deck.
Chonin seems hypnotized, twirling around, shaking his glitterari-disco boots, daring passersby on Miami Beach's Lincoln Road to dance with him.
The music is loud -- maybe too loud for some -- and no one else is dancing. But for the first time in years, Chonin is free to dance to the queen of soul without worrying about breaking the law.
Miami Beach has lost a significant round in its years-long effort to regulate street performers. Now, Chonin can dance anywhere in the city without having to whip out a copy of a city permit.
''This is art; why would they want to restrict that?'' asks Chonin, his hips now swiveling to the The Twist.
Why indeed, asked Miami-Dade County Court Judge Mary Jo Francis. Last month, she declared unconstitutional a city ordinance limiting performers and artists to 11 locations throughout the city.
Under the ordinance, only two performers are allowed at each location, chosen by lottery every three months from scores of applicants.
The ruling overturning the ordinance stemmed from the case of Ron O'Daniels, a 45-year-old former homeless man who spent 23 days in jail for playing his guitar on Ocean Drive without a permit.
O'Daniels' attorney, public defender Jairo Lanao, called the ruling ''vindication'' for his client: ``This man had no criminal record, he stood up for his principle. How could they punish him for something as simple as playing a guitar?''
The state attorney's office, which prosecuted the case, is appealing the ruling. In the meantime, some performers say the city is now using a new panhandling ordinance to deter them from performing or selling their art.
Miami Beach is just one of a number of cities in South Florida and elsewhere that want to strictly regulate performers, vendors and the homeless. The cities argue that they're trying to protect their quality of life, but free speech advocates say they're trying to stifle First Amendment rights.
FINDING A BALANCE
While cities including Fort Lauderdale and Key West have stiff laws banning panhandling from the homeless in their central business districts, Miami Beach more than any other municipality has waged a crusade against individuals simply because they are poor, said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, president of the Miami chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
''What you have is a spineless commission held hostage by its business community, a commission that's allowing the business community to take over public property and make it their own private domain,'' she said.
Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer said the city has a right to balance the needs of its business and residential communities: ``I can understand and respect where the ACLU is coming from, but I just happen to think that we do need to have a balance. You can't have a free-for-all.''
Dermer said the street performer ordinance was not intended to curtail people's ability to express themselves, but rather to design a process that was orderly yet protective of individual rights.
''There are people who are trying to eat, trying to shop -- why shouldn't they be allowed to do so?'' said Dermer. ``We were only asking performers and vendors to do so in an orderly and controlled manner.''
The squabble is somewhat ironic, said former Miami Beach Commissioner Nancy Liebman. Liebman, once dubbed the queen of regulation, remembers when the streets of South Beach were an eyesore and no one wanted to visit.
She called Judge Francis' ruling a setback for a city that fought hard to become the tourism magnet of the region.
''The city should have every right to regulate what happens on public property. We spent millions of dollars renovating Lincoln Road, and then we had a crisis: There were vendors everywhere. It was like an everyday flea market,'' said Liebman.
Now that the city can't use the permit ordinance, street performers say they're being cited for violations of its panhandling rules.
CONTINUED WARNINGS
The devil is in the language, said artist and vendor Hector Godoy. The city ordinance defines panhandling as ``begging, asking or soliciting in person for an immediate donation of money or other thing of value for charity or personal gain, either by words, bodily gestures, signs or other means indicating one is seeking an immediate donation or other thing of value.''
Godoy said he was warned by a Miami Beach police officer that he would be arrested as a nonaggressive panhandler.
''I'm going out there thinking there is still a chance I'm going to get arrested,'' said Godoy. ``It is unbelievable to me that I live and pay taxes in Miami Beach, yet I cannot make a living here.''
Miami Beach police spokesman Robert Hernandez said that anyone who feels unfairly treated by an officer has the right to file a complaint.
''The objective is to remove panhandlers from the entertainment district, and its geared toward the homeless,'' said Hernandez. The truth of the matter, said Hernandez, ``is you have street performers who are also panhandlers, and so they may be arrested.''
As the city waits out the appeal process, officials may consider the benefits street performers and artists have brought to cities like San Francisco, Boston and even Key West, said Jorge Hernandez, a University of Miami professor of architecture.
''Urban theater has been one of the most joyous cultural phenomenons. They add a certain edge to urban living and should be encouraged,'' he said.
Even in New York, a city that's undertaken a flood of quality-of-life crackdowns, street performers still have the ability to attract tourists, said Hernandez, who spoke of seeing spellbound onlookers standing for an hour to watch two break dancers perform.
''It was spontaneous and delightful, and people stood there and watched them perform even in the biting cold,'' Hernandez said.
STREET BENEFITS
Then there is this: If Boston had banned street performers, the world might never have heard of Tracy Chapman. The Grammy-award winning crooner from the '80s who fused blues, funk and folk honed her chops as a street performer on the city's subway platforms and in Cambridge's Harvard Square .
''It is a way of encouraging an embryonic lifestyle. Otherwise, you may stifle people who may have a genuine shot at stardom,'' Hernandez said.
And Chonin, who continues to twist and twirl away on Lincoln Road, is a refreshing fixture on a street that would otherwise be bland, said Miami Beach resident Todd Preston: ``He's got a lot of guts, he's uninhibited and I don't see anything wrong with it. Everybody's got to make a living.''