Boston Mayor Tom Menino has really outdone himself with his edict to crack down on street performers at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. His Honor has always tended to prefer other people’s free speech in moderation, but this is ridiculous.
Adam Gaffin: “Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown.”
The Outraged Liberal: “I didn’t realize balloon artists were so noisy, although I admit to occasionally getting chills when you twist a balloon and it makes a little squeak.”
What really gets me about Boston Globe reporter Donovan Slack’s story is that this is apparently being done, in part, for the benefit of restaurant patrons sitting outdoors on warm summer days and nights. I mean, we can’t have people who are spending money being bothered by people who aren’t, can we?
“When it’s nice, we like to open the doors,” a restaurant manager named Jennifer Achevarria told Slack. “Our biggest concern is the noise level, which directly affects our paying guests and disturbs the ambience.”
Good grief. And in the shadow of Faneuil Hall no less. Samuel Adams would be frowning on the beer named after him if Jim Koch hadn’t already shrunk his picture to near-invisibility.
Photo (cc) by Chris Kirkman and republished here under a Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.
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Liberals hate fun; they love suffering and the votes it generates.
Um, I know it’s fun to blame liberalism for absolutely every problem in existence, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t a liberal/conservative issue, Don. Go take a poll. I’m guessing the vast majority of artists and performers being silenced voted for Kerry (or at least pulled for him) in 2004.
Take a poll? Ha, ha ha, ha. . . .
Yeah, probably better not to try to substantiate your point. That would only lead to disappointment.
Who wants a goofy street performer ruining their dinner?Good job mumbles. They are annoying I don’t know if I’d ban them but they do get on your nerves if you are not a tourist looking for that kind of thing.