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Quote
of the Week
J.R.R. Tolkien:
"My
political opinions lean more
and more to Anarchy..."
Clarification
on
permit fees for Asheville musicians
Editors, Asheville Global Report,
I am writing in response to the letter published (No.207, Jan.2-8,
2003) submitted by Arwen Potter re: "Asheville’s new
ordinance unjust and discriminatory."
I do not know where Arwen got the numbers from concerning the
street musician’s permit fee. In the letter, the figure
of $300 was used.
I am an Asheville resident and musician. I applied for, and
was granted a street entertainer’s permit for a fee of
$25 last year. I was shocked to see that according to this letter,
the fee is $300.
I would like to set the record straight. I called the Asheville
City Development office on Jan. 3, 2003. They informed me that
the fee for said permit is still only $25. I would also like
to point out that this ordinance is not new. It has been on
the books for several years now.
I hope you will print the truth of this matter for the benefit
of your readers, and (hopefully) alleviate the feelings of paranoia
and unjust discrimination expressed by Arwen Potter.
If you have any questions, or would like to verify what I am
saying is true, you can call the City Development office at
232-4500.
Jessy Lynn Smith
Asheville, North Carolina
Editors’ note:
AGR spoke with Jan Moore at the City Development office,
who explianed that the cost of a one-year street performer’s
permit is $25. Moore also said street performers are allowed
to leave an open instrument case, hat, or other container to
collect donations if the performer refrains from verbal or written
requests for money.
However, assistant City Attorney Curt Euler said this is
not the case, as silent but implicit solicitations for funds
by entertainers could be construed as one of the "other
such acts" (aside from written or verbal) of requesting
funds forbidden by the city’s anti-panhandling ordinance,
and noted that the ordinance does not make an exception for
permit holding entertainers.
Euler also explained that panhandling in Asheville is a
class three misdemeanor, similar to misdemeanor posession of
marijuana, requiring at least five such convictions before resulting
in jail time.
When asked about the case of street entertainers or others
making silent and signless pleas for cash, Asheville Police
Department Chief Will Annarino told AGR "Our panhandling
ordinance is focused on those who verbally or by written means
hold themselves out for money in approaching someone else. I
think that says it all...That’s not to say that at the
officer’s discretion there’s not other circumstances
when someone could be charged."
He added: "We are not addressing issues where musicians
are playing for money and are not verbally or through written
means asking for donations."
Almaz Mequanint
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Quote
of the Week
"My political opinions lean more
and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition
of control, not whiskered men with bombs) -- or to ‘unconstitutional’
Monarchy. ...Government is an abstract noun meaning the art
and process of governing and it should be an offence to write
it with a capital G or so as to refer to people. If people were
in the habit of referring to ‘King George’s council,
Winston and his gang’, it would go a long way to clearing
thought, and reducing the frightful landslide into Theocracy.
Anyway the proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the
most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were
at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not
one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek
the opportunity."
J.R.R. Tolkien
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