Proposal Would Limit Downtown Street Musicians

From time to time, and especially when it's sunny and warm out, you'll see Darcy Dawn singing a tune with her acoustic guitar downtown on Caroline Street. Her music echoes through the streets and sometimes people stop to throw her a dollar or two. She's only 17, and she's made a name for herself just by singing songs on the sidewalk next to businesses on Caroline Street.

But a proposal that the Fredericksburg City Council will hear at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28 would put a huge dent in the street musician activity in the downtown business district, and it could even effectively end it. This is a public hearing and people can speak for or against the proposal. Downtown Fredericksburg has attracted a wide array of musicians downtown, from violinists to guitarists and drummers. Some play for fun and some play for a few bucks.

For Dawn, she uses the money to feed herself. She rents a room with her boyfriend and she can't find a job. Dawn can get donations from people ranging from only $4 to as much as $50 for playing outdoors a few hours a day.

"This would affect me completely," she said during an interview today. "That's really how I feed myself right now."

The proposal reads: "Prohibiting the use of loudspeakers, amplifiers, and musical instruments plainly audible at a distance of fifty feet in the downtown business district by amending Fredericksburg City Code, Chapter 38, “Environment", Article II “Noise”, Section 38-36, Specific Acts Prohibited."

In other words, if the music can be heard from 50 feet away, the musician would have to stop and they could find themselves in other trouble depending on what the city decides to do for violators and repeat violators.

Although the proposal is not an outright ban on street musicians, it would be very hard to play an acoustic instrument outdoors that couldn't be heard from 50-feet away.

"The ordinance affects volume levels only.  Downtown street musicians would continue to perform at a reasonable volume level.  The ordinance originated from concerns last summer about the loud volume of some of the street musicians, whose performances were simply too loud," said City Attorney Kathleen Dooley by email.

The proposal that was released in the public notice does not define what a reasonable volume is other than not being able to hear it from 50 feet away.

Dawn said she has never been asked to stop playing or quiet down. In fact, the opposite has happened and she has become quite popular among some businesses.

"Picker's Supply always asks me to sing in front of their shop," she said. "When people are actually requesting my music in front of their stores, I don't think it should be a problem."

Mark Whitley, assistant city manager, said this is not an outright ban but it does have to do with the city's newly adopted noise ordinance and violators can be fined. He said there was a street musician this past summer who was playing too loud and did cause disturbances. 

"He was way over the top and he moved around," Whitley said. "This is trying to set a bar."

Karen Hedelt, the city's director of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, said she got four of five complaints. 

"Some came to me directly, some came to me from other sources in city government and some came to the Ward 1 councilor," she said. "We wanted to have something in place if the musician did not respond to requests to find a new location or turn it down. It would definitely be complaint driven. I don’t see that it would be the city's goal to write a ticket, it would be to make sure the enjoyment of downtown is assured by everybody."

Hedelt said she personally enjoys most of the downtown musicians, but there was an instance when she did not. She said she was downtown trying to have a conversation with a friend and a musician had plugged in his electric guitar to an amp powered through his car and was playing so loud that she had to walk inside of a business to hear her friend. Business owners who want to have their doors open during warmer weather sometimes have had to close the doors because the music was too loud, she said. "It affects their rights in a sense," she said.

"I have heard wonderful music up and down Caroline Street and I hope it doesn’t constrict our nice atmosphere we have. This gives us a tool if it becomes an issue," she said.

What do you think about this proposal? Is it necessary? Is there a better solution? Is this even a problem? Comment below and speak your mind.