Made-in-Nanaimo approach frames busking as a downtown safety and security issue
Arts and culture…or safety and security? Nanaimo’s Street Entertainer’s Bylaw was enacted in 2003 to control altercations between panhandlers and street entertainers. Now, a review of that bylaw will be undertaken by the Safer Nanaimo Working Group. Over the past year, entertainers have called for a relaxation of the bylaw and some buskers disagree with the bylaw being reviewed by the Safer Nanaimo Working Group…preferring the activity be seen from the perspective of arts and culture. [source: Nanaimo News Bulletin]
We’re joined in the studio by longtime Nanaimo-based busker Cathy Davis. We speak with Randy Churchill, manager of bylaw services for the City of Nanaimo. And, we speak with Kirsten Anderberg, a Los Angeles-based street performer and journalist, who has studied busking and its regulation for many years.
