By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

April 23 -- Juggling free speech, equal opportunity and safety concerns, the City Council Tuesday night approved a street performance ordinance that tightens sound and space restrictions citywide, establishes fines as high as $200 for violations and requires performers on the pier to rotate their spots.

The ordinance also requires "heartland vendors" who sell political and religious-related products on the pier, the Third Street Promenade and the Transit Mall to rotate.

Overriding first amendment concerns, the council agreed that giving special treatment to these vendors -- who were allowed to stay put under a rotation system already in effect on the Promenade -- “violated the spirit of sharing and cooperation.”

“If we legalize non-rotation,” said Councilman Michael Feinstein, “we will encourage an increase in the number of people who do not rotate and we will decrease the number of spaces available to the number of people who have been playing by the rules in sharing spaces.”

While evangelists and political activists could likely be exempted from the ordinance under first amendment rights, Councilman Kevin McKeown said, he added that just because they can doesn’t mean they should.

“I would ask that evangelist, ‘Would Jesus rotate?’” McKeown said. “And I ask the heartland vendors, ‘Would Gandhi rotate?’ If you’re part of a community you work as part of that community.”

In addition to forcing “heartland" vendors to rotate, the new law further restricts the height of sound speakers to three feet and increases the space between performers to 35 feet in order to ease pedestrian flow.

Violating the ordinance, which also includes restrictions on props that impede traffic flow, can lead to fines imposed on a sliding scale of $75, $125 and $200 for the first, second and third violations respectively.

Much of the debate centered on a section of the ordinance that creates a hybrid lottery and rotation system on the Pier. The system calls for performers to rotate from the 23 “star spaces” every three hours between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Allaying a crucial concern among street performers that there would be either a lottery system or a rotation system, the council unanimously decided to implement the rotation system and to allow a lottery system for the star spaces as an option “for experimentation.”

Feinstein, who called the lottery a “crap shoot,” noted that a rotation system such as the one of the Promenade had never been given a chance to work on the pier.

The rotation system on the Promenade gives street performers a certain amount of time to perform, and a deadline to move. On the Pier there has been one midday rotation on the two dozen “star spaces,” which are located in the Center Performance Area and the Breezeway Performance area.

“The reason people are going to the lottery now is not because it’s a good idea but because of the failure to implement the model (of rotation on the Pier) that we talked about,” Feinstein said.

Councilman Herb Katz agreed. “When they started the rotation on the Promenade, people thought it wouldn’t work, that it was going to create nothing but chaos, but it hasn’t. It has worked well.”

The council’s action came after dozens of the city’s 409 registered street performers -- several dressed in costumes-- urged the council to apply the rotation system to the pier, and to include "heartland vendors" in rotation systems citywide.

“Everybody should rotate,” said caricature artist Paul Dale. “If someone worships a benevolent God out there in heaven, they should rotate. They should not be treated any different than people who do not believe in a benevolent God, or Ralph Nader, or Lyndon LaRouche.”

Michael LeRoy, a comic who juggles an apple, a bowling ball and an egg -- “sort of like our job,” McKeown jested -- said the lottery would mean “curtains” for him.

“Rotation allows us to compete a little more,” said LeRoy. “The lottery system eliminates that. It’s a huge cattle call in the morning for a ticket. If a 100 people decide to show up it’s going to be curtains for me.”

A man who identified himself in a Spanish accent only as Deneb agreed. “On the streets of America those who make the greatest sacrifice should obtain the greatest benefit. In other words, first come first serve. The lotto violates such a principle.”

The new law also prohibits leaving objects unattended, a post-9/11 safeguard to protect against potential placement of explosive devices.