The Globe Misleads
Minstrels mired in Market melee
This article, on the front page of Boston.com Thursday morning, gives the badly mistaken impression that performers at Faneuil Hall are battling free-for-all for performance space. Entirely untrue. The Faneuil Hall Marketplace is privately managed, and we street performers are on a roster that is by audition only. We play only according to our schedule. Just yesterday, I was checked for ID by Marketplace security (who didn't recognize us b/c we're new there), to verify we were part of the sanctioned performer roster.
The picture accompanying the article is of one of the sanctioned performers, whom, I surmise did not have to engage in a melee to play that day.
The article is based on some performers jockeying for position at one single spot, Sam Adams Plaza, which borders on Faneuil Hall Marketplace and is unregulated. The article gives the impression that this is happening all over. "Nowhere is the jockeying or acrimony so intense as it is on the cobbled plazas of Faneuil Hall". Huh? No jockeying, no acrimony yesterday. Just happy listeners putting dollars in our accordion case.
Furthermore, the article subtly tries to throw Stephen Baird under the bus. Stephen is the tireless street performers' advocate who brought suit against the City of Boston & had street performer regulations thrown out. Those regulations did not apply to Faneuil Hall, anyway. I applaud Stephen's work & have told him so before.
The Globe goes looking for a melee, and finds one. But it's not happening here.
This article, on the front page of Boston.com Thursday morning, gives the badly mistaken impression that performers at Faneuil Hall are battling free-for-all for performance space. Entirely untrue. The Faneuil Hall Marketplace is privately managed, and we street performers are on a roster that is by audition only. We play only according to our schedule. Just yesterday, I was checked for ID by Marketplace security (who didn't recognize us b/c we're new there), to verify we were part of the sanctioned performer roster.
The picture accompanying the article is of one of the sanctioned performers, whom, I surmise did not have to engage in a melee to play that day.
The article is based on some performers jockeying for position at one single spot, Sam Adams Plaza, which borders on Faneuil Hall Marketplace and is unregulated. The article gives the impression that this is happening all over. "Nowhere is the jockeying or acrimony so intense as it is on the cobbled plazas of Faneuil Hall". Huh? No jockeying, no acrimony yesterday. Just happy listeners putting dollars in our accordion case.
Furthermore, the article subtly tries to throw Stephen Baird under the bus. Stephen is the tireless street performers' advocate who brought suit against the City of Boston & had street performer regulations thrown out. Those regulations did not apply to Faneuil Hall, anyway. I applaud Stephen's work & have told him so before.
The Globe goes looking for a melee, and finds one. But it's not happening here.
1 Comments:
Great post Avi,
I hope you have emailed this to the Globe editorial, where it belongs.
Thanks,
- Seth
By seth Itzkan, at 12:37 PM
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