Street dancing banned in NYC

[M00T]

Source

"Last Friday, several of us were doing what has been done here for years: We were popping and breaking on the steps at Union Square park. It went on for hours with no problems when around 7pm, out of nowhere, someone comes to grab Tiny Love's radio. Turns out the man was a plainclothes police officer. About four officers in total came in civilian clothing and took over the circle. They wrote Tiny a ticket for $140 based on Violation AA31: NYC Park Violations
I've called everyone at NYC parks I could get ahold of, and it turns out there is nothing that can be done. I intend to help pay for this ticket, but we are going to make our case for the judge. August 31st at 8AM. I'll get the location from Tiny.

The premise the inspector I spoke to was this:
You need a permit for an event with more than 20 people. Even though there are only a few of us, the crowd we attract constitutes attendance. They apparently do not like to give permits for the south plaza (where the steps are). We could try to get a permit for a different part of the park, but with a $25 fee each week, it could become cumbersome to have to apply each time.

Does anyone have any experience battling an issue like this in your own community? Any advice you have would be very much appreciated."

:disgust:

 

[DainBramaged]

We never danced in Vietnam.

 

[Aharami]

they are always finding out more and more ways to wring money out of citizens

 

[hypn0tik]

That's retarded. There's stuff like that always happening in downtown Toronto (people playing instuments, people dancing, singing etc etc...) and I've never heard of such things being broken up. It attracts a fair number of people that just watch but the 'performers' never had trouble with the law.

Edit: Grammar.

 

[PawNtheSandman]

1. Get a real job?
2. Profit

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Back in my day we would have killed for 'tappa' 'tappa'...

 

[rh71]

I've seen those breakdancing crews at Columbus Circle. They were awesome entertainment and quite a huge crowd gathered. They made quite a lot in "tips". But I can see how the city may think it it's a nuisance with the loud music and the "traffic" in areas. The park is supposed to be a relaxing place for the general public and they should be able to control what goes on there in terms of noise. Of course the other part is, the ordinance is there to help generate revenue. It was there before those guys were.

BTW, this doesn't sound like a ban, but an enforcement.

 

[akubi]

Originally posted by: PawNtheSandman
1. Get a real job?

 

[frankie38]

i believe LE can stop street dancing under the Patriot Act.

 

[imported_Pablo]

Good grief its a small world!

I was actually in NYC friday night and I saw this get broken up... I heard somebody say over their little radio "due to [garbled words] the performance is over" and they started packing up and a guy with a bag was going around saying "its never too late to donate". Funny that I was there, but also that I hear about this on ATOT.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: rh71
BTW, this doesn't sound like a ban, but an enforcement.

Yeah, I ran afoul of this ordnance back in 1999 singing with a group I was in. I mention the year to illustrate that it is not a post-9/11 measure, although recent events may have lead to more strict enforcement of the rule. We were not ticketed, though, the cop just explained to us about the size of the gathering including both performers and observers and that we would have to leave.

Nonetheless, since it's been going on regularly for some time, it would have been nice of the cop to let the dancers know that the policy is now going to be enforced...but then again there is the revenue factor.

FWIW, the cop that threw us out of Union Station told us that the ordinance did not apply to the subway platform, so that's an alternative 😀