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Buskers Bylaw

Kamloops city council votes down buskers bylaw

May 30, 2019 | 4:58 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops city council has voted down a proposed bylaw that would regulate street performers.

Council voted 5-4 against the so-called ‘buskers bylaw’.

The bylaw would have required street performers to have a permit. It would also limit what times and at which locations buskers could perform.

Some councillors felt Kamloops is not a big enough centre to require the bylaw.

“It is something that I think if we had people competing on every street corner like you do in Vancouver, then we might have to look at it, but for now personally I’d just like to see more people out there playing music,” said Councillor Kathy Sinclair.

Mayor Ken Christian was in favour of the bylaw.

He says it was meant to add arts and culture to the downtown. Christian believes the vote was impacted by public perception.

“I think some of the councillors were concerned about the criticism that this was a business licensing tax grab, where in fact it wasn’t,” Christian said. “But, nonetheless if that’s the perception, then we don’t want to be swimming upstream. So, we have lots of other things to work on.”