Seattle’s street artists get a green light

Just in time for the summer tourist throngs, mimes, musicians and balloon-animal shapers have been newly empowered to bring their entertainments and tip jars to public parks.

In a ruling with potentially wide implications for street artists throughout the West, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday struck down curbs imposed by Seattle on those performing at the popular Seattle Center, home of the landmark Space Needle.

Michael “Magic Mike” Berger, a busker who sculpted balloon figures and dazzled children with sleight-of-hand tricks, prevailed in his seven-year challenge of the constitutionality of Seattle’s 2002 rules regulating street performers. The city had required them to obtain permits, wear badges, refrain from soliciting gratuities, stay away from “captive audiences” and work only within designated sites.

By contrast, Los Angeles city officials make little effort to rein in the street artists who abound at tourist venues like Venice Beach and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One local move, a 2001 ordinance restricting street banners in Santa Monica, drew a court challenge but has since been amended.

In the decision by an 11-member en banc panel of the appeals court, a majority rejected Seattle’s argument that the rules were appropriate limits on “time, place and manner,” rather than an infringement on free speech.

“I think there’s going to have to be a reevaluation by many cities, certainly in the 9th Circuit and perhaps across the country, on the validity of various laws that restrict people from speaking in public and performing in public on sidewalks and parks,” said Elena Luisa Garella, Berger’s lawyer.

Constitutional law professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond agreed the ruling could tie the hands of officials trying to control the proliferation of street artists but predicted it would be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Berger, 61, was in Costa Rica when the ruling was announced but sent an e-mail proclaiming victory.

“The city has been trying to turn Seattle Center into a government-controlled place that is very convenient for commercial interests and hostile to freedom and free speech,” he wrote, concluding that “the city needs to wake up and read the Constitution.”

Seattle officials suspended the restrictions after a federal judge ruled for Berger in 2005. The city appealed to the 9th Circuit, where a three-judge panel last year upheld the busker rules as permissible safety and order considerations. Assistant City Atty. Gary Keese said the city was still reviewing the 114-page en banc ruling and had yet to consider whether to drop the rules or seek Supreme Court review.

Four 9th Circuit judges, including Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, dissented from Wednesday’s opinion. Kozinski observed that the city was merely imposing “some basic rules, to ensure the safety and convenience” of the 12 million annual visitors to the Seattle Center.

Writing for the majority, Judge Marsha S. Berzon, a President Clinton appointee, said that “a law requiring a permit to engage in [individual] speech constitutes a dramatic departure from our national heritage and constitutional tradition.” She referred repeatedly to a 2002 Supreme Court decision applying the same 1st Amendment protections to Jehovah’s Witnesses who take their religious messages door-to-door.

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carol.williams@latimes.com