LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Street performers call for change to rules at the Fremont Street Experience, calling the status quo “broken” and rife with ruthless tactics among peers to cheat the current system for performer spaces.
City officials held a town hall Monday afternoon for feedback on city code after various complaints about the “circle” system: in 2015, to prevent conflict among street performers jostling for coveted spots along FSE, the city created a law for designated performer “circles” with a radius of six feet.
A city map shows 38 available spots, 40 feet apart from one another. Designated performer times are 3 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Workers can register their ID for spots at prime times; a daily lottery determines assigned spots. Although the city website states that it’s against the law to register multiple times to better your odds, workers tell FOX5 that the illegal practice continues; performers even sell their spots to others.
One performer said during the town hall that they had never been selected by the lottery in more than ten years.
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Other workers voiced a range of concerns: strangers appearing in designated spots assigned to someone else. There are other spots that are available on a “first-come, first-served” basis, and performers said some resort to hiring the homeless to hold coveted spots for performers.
“It’s kind of ruthless out there. It’s definitely the trenches. You have people fighting over spots just from the ‘first come, first serve’ rule,” said mentalist Victor Cephas II.
To crack down on abuses, during the meeting, city officials floated possible penalties; the ACLU of Nevada voiced concerns about the use of ID checks on performers to verify circle usage by the right individual, arguing performers are simply exercising freedom of speech in a public space.
“This is not private space we’re talking about. This is public space. No matter how private it might look, the reality is this is a constitutionally established principle with respect to the First Amendment,” said Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada.
The city attorney will review the feedback and determine the next steps for the city, a spokesperson said.
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