former front as the summer season
drags on into August after a federal
judge in early July issued a prelimi-
nary injunction preventing the town
of Ocean City from enforcing its 30-
foot noise ordinance on the famous
promenade.
al court on behalf of violinist William
Hassay Jr. challenging the town's
noise ordinance changes on the
Boardwalk the organization be-
lieves are an attempt to silence mu-
sicians. In the suit filed against the
Mayor and Council and then acting
Police Chief Michael Colbert, the
ACLU alleges the enforcement of
the town's 30-foot noise ordinance
on the Boardwalk infringes on Has-
say's and other performers' funda-
mental right under the First Amend-
ment to engage in freedom of
speech and expression in a public
forum.
the noise ordinance on the Board-
walk, the legal process will likely
take several months. In the mean-
time, on July 3 a federal judge is-
sued a preliminary injunction essen-
tially prohibiting the town from en-
forcing the 30-foot rule for street
performers on the Boardwalk until
performers have been practicing
their art as they always have on the
Boardwalk this summer, but there
has not been the anticipated flaunt-
ing of the law. Anecdotally, the
street performers are still drawing
large crowds on most summer
nights, but their volumes are decid-
edly toned down for the most part
and there have been few reported
incidents of conflicts with police or
merchants.
injunction regarding the street per-
formers," said OCPD Public Infor-
mation Officer Mike Levy this week.
incidents or confrontations between
city officials and street performers
since the preliminary injunction was
handed down just about a month
ago. ACLU attorney Debbie Jeon
said this week there has been a de-
cided détente, or spirit of peaceful
coexistence on the Boardwalk since
the injunction.
city and its street performers since
the issuance of the preliminary
injunction, which is good news," she
said. "That suggests that perform-
ers are able to express themselves
and the city is able to regulate ex-
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