Jill Porter | Music to the ears: City changes its tune on Rittenhouse performers
IT'S TIME to strike up the band. Because the silencing of musicians and singers in Rittenhouse Square has - blessedly - come to an end.
IT'S TIME to strike up the band.
Because the silencing of musicians and singers in Rittenhouse Square has - blessedly - come to an end.
City Solicitor Romulo Diaz Jr. settled the rancorous controversy yesterday by re-interpreting a Fairmount Park regulation to allow casual musicians to sing and play in the square, so long as the music doesn't violate noise ordinances.
It went into effect immediately, he said.
No more arrests. No more threats of arrest. No more ridiculous clampdowns on the joyful sound of music in the park.
"Wow. That's great."
So said Drew Gillis, who's been agitating against the music ban with protests, petitions and the founding of a nonprofit organization ever since his bandmate, Anthony Riley, was arrested three months ago in the square.
Riley - who I couldn't reach last night - was arrested for disorderly conduct on March 27 when a police officer told him to stop singing and he refused.
He spent the night in a roach-ridden district lockup, an outrageous turn of events that mushroomed into a huge controversy.
Police continued to rigidly enforce a park regulation that requires a permit for any "musical performance," threatening to arrest anyone who strummed a guitar in the park - even though the regulation clearly was designed to apply to large-scale concerts.
Police said they were clamping down at the request of residents of the high-rises that ring Rittenhouse Square, who complained about the noise.
Riley, who with Gillis and Robby Torres make up the band Stone Soup, is a popular street musician in the city. The band, ironically, has been booked by the Fairmount Park Commission to play at several of its summer concerts at Love Park.
Riley's followers and devotees of that kooky tradition known as the First Amendment - yes, the ACLU got involved - objected to the music ban.
When the head of the city's own Civil Affairs Unit, Capt. William Fisher, opposed the crackdown because he believed it violated freedom of speech, the city's top lawyer decided it was time to get involved.
"This story has aroused a lot of passions in the community," Diaz said.
"On the one hand, you have people who are very concerned about freedom of expression and First Amendment rights.
"On the other hand, we have residents who are equally concerned about protecting their homes and places of business."
After meeting with police and park commission representatives several weeks ago, Diaz issued a memo yesterday to Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson that draws the line between casual music-making and formal presentations.
"The fact that an individual is simply playing a musical instrument in a public space, even if the individual is accompanied by others or attracts a few onlookers," doesn't make it a performance requiring a permit, the memo says.
If the group that gathers gets large - over 50 people - police can put a stop to it since "such crowds are likely to significantly impact others' use of the Park and traffic flow."
The residents of the square would be protected by noise ordinances that prohibit sounds above a certain decibel level - in this case, 5 decibels to 10 decibels, Diaz said.
"Is this going to satisfy everybody? I'd be delusional if I thought that," Diaz said.
"I've tried to come up with a common-sense approach that hopefully allows everybody to enjoy the park in a way that doesn't interfere with the way that others enjoy the park.
"Everybody's going to have to give a little."
Wendy Rosen, president of Friends of Rittenhouse Square - which was erroneously portrayed as the villain in this conflict - said she welcomed music in the square.
"I don't know how the fingers got pointed at us; we didn't have anything to do with it," she said.
"We love music in the park."
She and others object to the panhandling that went with it, which she said may have prompted the police crackdown.
Diaz said he's going to post his memo on the city's Web site next week, to see what kind of public reaction it elicits.
It certainly restores sanity to the situation and restrains police from the ridiculously heavy-handed tactics they used to enforce an illegal silence.
Riley, however, still has one more obstacle to overcome.
The trial stemming from his arrest is scheduled for court on Tuesday - the day, ironically, before we celebrate our freedoms: July 4. *
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