Park to be Winter Park performers’ new venue

Street performers in Winter Park may soon have to move away from the city’s popular Park Avenue restaurants and shops and do their juggling, sax playing, guitar-strumming and miming across the street at Central Park, the City Commission decided Monday night.

While the move might appease merchants, it drew opposition from residents who worry that it would ruin the park — which would be designated as a “First Amendment” zone.

The City Commission voted 4-0 to move to a final vote to ban street performers along Park Avenue and New England Avenue in the historic district. The proposed ordinance is patterned after a similar ban in St. Augustine.

Because the city couldn’t discriminate based on content, it proposes to define performing as all “acting, singing, playing musical instruments, pantomime, mime, magic, dancing, artistry or the sale of visual art and wares.”

Performers were originally going to be moved into two “First Amendment zones” designated by the city for performances and other “First Amendment activities” — probably the areas near the bandshell and the rose garden in Central Park. But city officials decided that it would make more sense to simply designate the entire park as a permitted zone.

“The first thing people talk about is ‘exclusion,’ but it’s more of a safe area for performances of individuals,” said fire Chief James White, who oversees code enforcement. “We met with legal, and we felt that [we’d get] greater compliance with the entire park flexibly used ... .”

The push for the ban came from the Park Avenue Merchants Association, whose members have complained about artists blocking sidewalks and amplifying music.

“[People say] they like the ambience, but unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to pick and choose the quality of performances that come up,” White said. “What we see more often is [artists] set up shop, and you see the sidewalks blocked up.”

White played a video of one group performing in an alcove of a Park Avenue business that was closed for the evening, which he said made it difficult for code enforcement officers to remove them or move them.

“Honestly, once we have it in place and people are able to go to this area, it’s going to be nicer for everybody,” White said.

But several residents expressed concern about the entire park becoming filled with street performers once Park Avenue is closed to them.

“I’m for all the restrictions you could give,” said Linda Erickson. “I don’t know if you should just let anyone come. There are so many families, and everything’s become too loud.”

Resident Karen Barber also insisted the park should remain a “quiet space,” adding that while

soliciting is and would still be banned by performers, “I find it offensive when I see an open guitar case asking for handouts. You’re asking beggars to come to Park Avenue. I know I may sound callous or unfeeling — but if you need a job, go find a place to work.”

But street performer Larry Walker Jr. said that “no street performer I know anywhere gets into [it] for the money. Very few people get into the art thing thinking they’re going to be fantastically wealthy.”

As for the proposal, “Street performers are nothing if not flexible,” Walker said. “We will work with any regulation and restriction required of us.”

Resident Nancy Shutts also spoke up for performers, saying they improve the ambience of streets in Europe and that “we should allow people to share their gifts with the community.”

The commissioners — minus an absent Mayor Steve Leary — still had several concerns despite the initial vote.

Commissioner Carolyn Cooper motioned to return to the stricter zones within the park, saying she wanted “to start smaller and grow.” The amendment was not seconded.

“I love street performers,” said Cooper. But she called Winter Park a “family community, and that’s important to me.”

“And a lot of the videos I’ve seen [of performers] make it look more like Bourbon Street than Park Avenue.”

Commissioner Tom McMacken asked if there could be more unrestricted areas along New England Avenue near Hannibal Square, along with the City Hall grounds, while asking the City Attorney Kurt Ardaman if the ordinance would hold up to legal challenges.

Ardaman said that the similar St. Augustine ordinance has held up to challenges during the past decade, though the current legal challenge — for which attorney Thomas Cushman said a decision was expected any day — was not mentioned.

The tentative second reading on the ordinance was scheduled for Dec. 14.