Busking & begging on city streets -

What about beggars? Are they considered "acceptable", or are they moved on & out of the cities?

We've got lots of them too, msOlga. They don't get quite the same positive coverage. The big issue here is getting them inside in extreme temperatures.

They don't get hustled off, though, unless they're on private property.

When the Democratic National Convetion was held here in Boston last summer the mayor quietly had as many street people rounded up and hidden in shelters or put up in hotels outside of the city for the duration as they could.

There were several news articles about it here but apparently it's not an uncommon thing for cities to do.

We wouldn't want the muckity-mucks hob-nobbin' with the rifff-raff now would we??

link



link to Canadian Busking Competitions

http://www.vocalist.org.uk/busking_competitions.html#canada





and of course I have to hilite the one from home (a good time to visit hamburger and mrs. hamburger)

http://www.kingstonbuskers.com/

Not that long ago I was approached by a cheerful young woman requesting "money for the tram fare home". She offered to sing & dance for me in response to a small donation! Well, being chicken & feeling a wee bit at the prospect of the spectacle her performance for an audience of only my good self in a busy street, I coughed up a small number of $$$ if she promised to stop telling stories about needing money for her fare home. We parted on good terms, both reasonably pleased with the transaction. :wink:

Oh, this sort of thing makes me hopping mad! It's always for PR purposes!

Interesting link, that, ehBeth. I think I'll check out the Quebec Festival when next in Canada! :wink:

The thing that struck me when all of this was in the papers here is that I've never really seen all that many beggers/street people here in Boston.

I know they are there but we generally don't hear about a whole lot of problems any of them cause. They seem to be much more low-profile here than in other places I've lived or visited.

We have quite a few buskers - but they get moved on if they have no licences - apparently they have to audition for them!

There seem to be less beggars right now - frankly, I was horrified at the numbers of beggars in London and new York and Washingtn - and the very aggressive ones in Montreal....(and one extremely aggressive one in the NY subway!)

I love buskers - and have no problem with beggars (except that they need to beg) as long as they aren't threatening. I guess that can be what is hard to manage if they are completely accepted by authorities.

I think the homeless DO get moved on here when we have major events - I sometimes notice the normal morning city homeless further out in the 'burbs at such times.

I know a friend - who was mayor of a big Melbourne seaside place - forget which - aroused some council ire when he arranged for firewood and such to be delivered to the groups of homeless - (or at least drinking rough) - Aboriginal people in a couple of the major parks on a regular basis. He considered it was their space at night - and tried to keep them safe and warm.

The solution to buskers here in harvard square is to keep them spread out and relatively quiet. I think you may even have to apply for a free license. You must be so many feet/meters from other buskers and must keep electrified music down to a certain decible level.

As for beggars, as far as I know they are left alone to do what they do. People do go around trying to round them up when it gets fatally cold outside. Extra space is made for the extras at homeless shelters and church basements. The climate here is generally unhospitable to outdoor living year round and several homeless people die every winter.

I enjoy Buskers--even the ones with absolutely no talent except an inflated self-image.

Beggars? I'll co-exist with polite beggars and either give money or not according to my mood and my supply of small change. I have no patience with the in-your-face beggars who come close to demanding money with menaces.

Recently in Allentown, PA, the owners of a plot of ground that had become a tent city over the years announced that they wanted the homeless gone in 30 days because they needed the land for increased storage space for their expanding business.

I'm a bit of a bleeding heart myself, but I had no sympathy with the middle class pickets who marched up and down in front of the business. They didn't seem to realize that if the "rights" of the homeless were upheld it would also be "right" for the homeless to set up camp in any picket's back yard.

The homeless themselves departed with some dignity--but it took a back hoe to deal with their leavings.

For me here in Quebec alot of the buskers play an instrument. Usually in a subway or along a busy throughfare.I usually tip because this is really heady music plus people who play it must be good because who could play bad music and hopefully gain from it? Hense the music will always be something that transports you from where ever you are in your head to that of the player.And if it works tipping for this treat is well along the road to enlightenment.

I don't think I have ever heard a bad musician playing .

Interesting feedback. Thank you!

Littlek

It sounds as though Boston has an enlightened & compassionate approach to the homeless beggars on the streets. Here, mostly the authorities seem to pretend they don't exist until complaints are made. Then, they are simply moved on ... to where-ever ....

we have one or two beggars - but there have been articles in the paper exposing one regular for intance, as living in a house and earning a lot of money each week by pretending to be homeless! others promptly spend the money on alcohol - they've now been moved on. I tend to prefer the Big Issue sellers as you know they are legit.


I like buskers - we have some really good ones and they create a brilliant atmosphere.

<sigh> As if life wasn't complicated enough already, Vivien, without also having to decide whose a genuinely needy beggar & who isn't. Sometimes life just gets too difficult!