City Council Meeting 5-08-01                                                        Santa Monica, California

 

 

 

 

 

TO:                  Mayor and City Council

 

FROM:            City Staff

 

SUBJECT:     Ordinance Amending the City=s Street Performance Regulations

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Construction of the Transit Mall will result in new sidewalk space in the downtown area which will likely be used by street performers.  Municipal Code amendments are necessary to extend current regulations to this new space.  Additionally, present laws governing street performance and other activities on the Promenade and Pier have proven inadequate in a few, specific respects.  This staff report documents the current circumstances which necessitate amendments and provides recommendations.  A proposed ordinance is attached.

 

Background

The City Council first adopted regulations governing the time, place and manner of street performance in 1989.  Since then, the regulations have been amended many times in response to changing conditions in the City=s most popular public spaces and in light of regulatory experience.  Each time the laws were amended, the City=s goals were the same: to respect individual rights of expression, preserve public safety in crowded places, maintain the appearance of the Promenade and Pier, protect local merchants from unfair competition, and ensure that the City=s most popular spaces remain vibrant and appealing to residents and visitors.

 

The current regulatory system was adopted in 1999.  It establishes noise limits, rotation and spacing requirements for performers and free speech vendors, and restrictions on paraphernalia placed in pedestrian areas.  When the Council adopted the present regulations, it also created a monitor position.  The monitor has been working with performers, police personnel, the Bayside District Corporation (BDC) and the Pier Restoration Corporation (PRC) for the last two years, explaining the regulations, informally resolving disputes and ensuring voluntary compliance whenever possible.

 

Discussion

The Promenade

Information supplied by performers, police personnel, the BDC and the monitor indicates that the current regulatory system has apparently worked reasonably well on the Promenade.  Disputes have arisen, but they are usually resolved swiftly and satisfactorily.  Based upon this experience, the regulations appear adequate to address the various concerns of performers, safety personnel and the business community with one exception.  The Promenade remains extremely noisy and enforcement of noise requirements remains problematic.  A code change is recommended to address this issue.  Other issues may be addressed through education, training and enforcement.

 

Noise has been a problem for many years on the Promenade.  The space is akin to a walled canyon.  Sound bounces off of the two and three story buildings which line the pedestrian street.  Crowds are very large on weekends and evenings.  Sound sources are many, and often compete with one another for audience attention. 

 

Sound monitoring equipment is difficult to use with accuracy and reliability in this environment.  Present restrictions prohibit noise in excess of 85 decibels at 25 feet.  However, at this distance it can be very difficult to distinguish between noise sources and between any specific course and ambient levels.  These problems are compounded by the physical characteristics of the environment which include hard surfaces and high walls which refract and distort sounds.  To address these conditions, City staff and the monitor recommend revising the noise standard to include an equivalency for measurements taken at one foot.  The amended ordinance would prohibit noise in excess of 85 decibels at 25 feet or 107 decibels at one foot.  The later standard was suggested by a consultant to the BDC.  It is an equivalency to the existing standard, calculated mathematically.  This revised, alternative  standard will give noise monitors a better opportunity to clearly identify the noise source and will thereby enhance enforcement.

 

The Transit Mall

The Transit Mall project includes significantly widening sidewalks on Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard which are adjacent and perpendicular to the Promenade.  When the sidewalks are widened, it is anticipated that performers may begin working on them.  In the future, based upon experience, the Council may wish to discuss and formulate a regulatory policy governing performance and free speech vending in this particular pedestrian space.  Meanwhile, the proposed ordinance would address this new situation by extending requirements for performance on the Promenade to the new sidewalks on Santa Monica Boulevard which will be completed this summer.

 

The Pier

The PRC, police personnel and the monitor report that the present spacing and rotation system has proven inadequate on the Pier.  Problems have arisen because the space is very narrow, is smaller than the Promenade, and is basically a Adead-end@ street with ingress and egress only at the east end.  Performers set up on both sides of the Pier roadway.  Stationary crowds accumulate to watch these performers, blocking pedestrian access to the rest of the Pier.  Those waiting for space to work station themselves and their paraphernalia next to working performers.  On weekends, holidays and in summer, gridlock results.  This present system has clearly proven inadequate to maintain the free flow of pedestrian traffic necessary for public safety. 

 

Accordingly, police personnel, the monitor and the PRC recommend that a new and different system be adopted for that portion of the week and year when the Pier attracts large crowds.  Specifically, they suggest that rotation be eliminated, that performance sites be designated and that performance be limited to those sites with all permitted performers having an equal opportunity for access through a daily lottery.  The lottery would be implemented by regulation which would allow the flexibility to experiment with different alternatives and make revisions based upon staff experience, performers= input, and changing conditions.  The lottery system would operate from April 1st through September 30th on Wednesdays through Sundays.  At other times, the present system would remain in effect. 

 

Financial Impact

No financial impact is anticipated if the attached ordinance is adopted.

 

Recommendation

It is respectfully recommended that the accompanying ordinance be introduced for first reading.

 

PREPARED BY:       Marsha Jones Moutrie, City Attorney

Barry Rosenbaum, Senior Land Use Attorney

 

ATTACHMENT:        ORDINANCE