For the fourth time in as many tries, the Town of Ocean City was not successful in defending street performer regulations after U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett on Wednesday ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on the most important aspects of the town’s latest street performer ordinance. Bennett issued his opinion on Wednesday on the cusp of another summer season in Ocean City. Essentially, the federal court’s ruling eliminates the pre-registration requirement, location limitations and most of the time and space restrictions on street performing on the Boardwalk.
The case was first filed in 2015 by eight Boardwalk street performers and challenged many of the provisions on the town’s latest attempt to regulate busking along the famed promenade. The case was rife with procedural issues from the beginning, which delayed a final ruling from the federal court before Wednesday’s opinion was handed down.
In the end, however, the eight street performer plaintiffs were successful in arguing the town’s street performer ordinance violated their First Amendment rights to free speech. As a result, most of the provisions in the town’s ordinance will be struck down, likely resulting in a return to the old “wild west” days where almost anything goes on the Boardwalk related to street performing.
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14 comments:
Good glad the OC Mafia Bosses were again put in their place.
Good, to many rules and regulations. Let people be free to express themselves. Americans are forgetting what freedom really means.
How absolutely refreshing it is that these eight "performers" care so very much about our Constitution and the rights of Americans.
They certainly didn't do this because they found a loophole in the law that would allow them totally free rent; no permits; no taxes; no oversight, and the ability to make a boat-load of money on one of the busiest sidewalks/streets in the State of Maryland.
(Anyone that believes that, please leave your email address below. I can make you a great deal on purchasing the Route 50 Bridge for very little money down. I'll be in touch.)
So, 9:35, you would be OK with someone setting up a business - like selling spray-painted pictures - on the sidewalk in front of your house?
As the court has ruled, your sidewalk is a public thoroughfare and would be wide open for these freedom-loving Americans to come to your street and express themselves.
Are you sure you're OK with that?
Who was OC's attorney in this debacle?
In this maddening day-and-age of law suits and political correctness, nobody in power can publicly state exactly what is going on here.
In more than 90% of the cases the so-called artists are nothing more than 'carny' scammers.
Maybe the worst thing about this newest ruling is that the scammers - not the talented, entertaining buskers, but the con artists - will flood the boardwalk this summer.
The Henna Tattoo "artists" will be back in droves, messing-up that beautiful walkway.
The spray paint "artists" will be creating their "art" while spewing toxic gasses to the crowd. (The artist will be wearing a gas mask, of course.)
How about the guy that sends his "shills" over to Michael's craft store to buy white silk flowers for $1.00, throws a little spray paint on the petals, then puts them on display to sell them for $10 or $15.00. (He takes a couple of them apart before he starts selling, then re-glues them in front of the crowd to have them believe he is "creating" the artwork, by the way.)
Here's my question:
Why doesn't the Bethany and Rehoboth boardwalks have this problem? Both of them are crowded with people - not as many as OC of course, but still very crowded. Those towns never have this problem. I wonder why? Can anyone answer that question?
let the freak show begin!
11:30 PM - The Boardwalk is NOT a sidewalk. It's a Street officially known as Atlantic Avenue. Compared to the homeless community in OC, the Performers are far more entertaining.
Well 11:30, if the court actually ruled that way I guess someone can come sell those pictures in front of my house right now. I guess you didn't know that there is a difference between boardwalk and sidewalk.
That's the problem 11:24, to many taxes, permits, and to much oversight. That is all the government cares about, collecting more money. Glad they lost.
1130-If your sidewalk is within a certain number of feet of the property line or road, it's considered public property anyway.
No harm done by these folks. Only the greedy politicians and a few others or bothered by these folks trying to make a living. I suppose some of the folks on here think they know more than a federal judge.
Wonderful news for freedom! Screw the old cronies on city council.
And the consensus is, the judge got it right. Obviously no a PC judge.
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