New Ordinance
Jerry Rubin, head of the L.A. Alliance for Survival,
was in the fifth day of a hunger strike as the Mirror went to press to
protest the Santa Monica City Council’s passage last week of an
emergency ordinance that imposes new restrictions on street
performers, and what he described to the Mirror, in a phone interview,
as the City’ and Bayside District’s unwillingness to bring in a
mediator to negotiate a compromise that would meet the needs of both
the City and the performers.
Rubin also alleges that he wrote a letter to the Los
Angeles Times to correct a mistake in Times story about the ordinance,
but that the Times told him it was not publishing any letters on the
subject.
The complete text of Rubin’s July 24 letter to the
Times follows:
"Dear Editor.
"Thanks to the L.A. Times and Monte Morin for
helping draw attention to the polarization and anger the new
restrictions for street performers and artists are causing on Santa
Monica’s Third Street Promenade. The ‘musical chairs’ new
rotation policy is unfair, unnecessary, unenforceable and potentially
unsafe.
"One very important correction is that the
Bayside District (the group that manages the Promenade) has hired a
Promenade ‘monitor’ not a ‘mediator’ as reported. A Promenade
coordinating monitor is certainly not a bad idea, but there is a big
difference between the two. And, therein, lies one of the biggest
problems.
"For months now -- even after a pro-mediation
petition was signed by more than 60 Promenade performers, artists and
free speech tablers -- Bayside District has refused to bring in a
professional mediator to help iron out what could have been (and still
could be) a more ‘win-win,’ less restrictive approach. Two
mediators -- one from California Lawyers for the Arts and one from
Dispute Resolution Services -- have both informed Bayside and the City
of their availability.
"The end of my hunger strike and, I assume, the
end of much of the protest is predicated on the Bayside District
fulfilling their previously agreed promise of mediation.
"Thank you, Jerry Rubin."
When asked by the Mirror to comment on Rubin’s
allegations, Kathleen Rawson, Executive Director of the Bayside
District Corporation, said while she knows Rubin feels very deeply
about this issue, she believes that "It’s a good ordinance and
a decent place to start." She also said that she thought it was
less restrictive than the previous ordinance