Ariel Gottlieb strummed her acoustic guitar on the Boardwalk near 10th Street, singing Vance Joy’s hit “Riptide.”
The catchy tune includes the lyric, “I love when you’re singing that song.”
City officials and some Boardwalk merchants don’t share the love for allowing buskers such as Gottlieb to perform anywhere they want on the 2.45-mile stretch of Ocean City’s boards.
So, in July, the police department, in consultation with the mayor’s office, issued a directive requiring all Boardwalk performers to stick to the area of the Boardwalk between 5th and 6th streets. That section is wider, has no storefronts and is less congested than other parts of the Boardwalk during peak summer hours.
Although the city has no law dictating where musicians and other performers can set up on the Boardwalk, there have been ongoing concerns from some merchants about noise, and congestion caused by pedestrians stopping to watch and listen.
Ocean City Police Capt. Steve Ang noted it is illegal to block the flow of pedestrian traffic on the Boardwalk.
“We’re asking for cooperation” from the performers, Ang said. Moving the performers to a specific area of the Boardwalk is “an experimental thing we’re trying to see if it will make everyone happy. It’s not a closed door, I’m sure there will be more dialogue.”
The city’s experiment struck a sour note with Gottlieb, who performed on a warm weeknight on the Boardwalk near 10th Street. On the same night, the Beach Boys played two shows a few blocks down at the Ocean City Music Pier.
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“I don’t think I’m going to draw a huge crowd,” Gottlieb said, pointing out that a strolling Mummers string band performing on the Boardwalk was making a lot more noise than she could with her acoustic guitar.
“I think it’s really important for artists to have someplace to play where they can make a little money,” said Gottlieb, who lives in Silver Spring, MD, and was vacationing at the shore with her family.
Gottlieb had her guitar case open at her feet, and said she’d made a few dollars in the half-hour or so she’d been singing on the boards. The police hadn’t asked her to move to 5th Street, she said.
Back home, Gottlieb performs in an acoustic duo called Selfish Sunday. The duo occasionally busks in Silver Spring’s downtown without any hassle, she said.
How to keep a handle on Boardwalk performers without trampling on their rights has vexed city officials for a number of years.
In 2013, City Council considered an ordinance that would have required Boardwalk performers working for tips to register for a permit. At a council meeting, several members of the public, including some young local musicians, spoke out against the proposed ordinance, which ultimately died on second reading.
This time around, “we’re trying to do a compromise here without having to pass a law that’s too restrictive and might remove (performers) from the Boardwalk completely,” Ang said. “Do we really need another law on the books?”
Wes Kazmarck, president of the Ocean City Boardwalk Merchants Association, said he and other merchants want to revisit the idea of requiring permits for performers, “so it’s not just like a free-for-all out there.”
The merchants’ association sponsors live entertainment on the Boardwalk three nights per week during the summer, including the Mummers who performed the same night as Gottlieb sang for tips.
“For all the people out there who like (the buskers), there’s an equal number of people who don’t like performers with their guitar cases open,” he said.
The merchants’ association will meet with city officials in the fall to discuss whether moving the performers to a confined area helped, or if more needs to be done, Kazmarck said.
Other seaside resorts have adopted strict regulations to control the number and location of performers on their boardwalks.
Atlantic City prohibits performers from playing for tips on the Boardwalk. Buskers are required to have a license, which cost $95. And, they’re only allowed to perform on five platforms situated along the shoreline between the Boardwalk and the dunes. Performers are assigned spots through rotation and a lottery.
In July, Ocean City, MD started enforcing new regulations requiring performers to sign up for one of 32 designated spots a week in advance. The new rules spurred protests from performers who frequent the Boardwalk.
Back on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, while Gottlieb performed near 10th Street, the Beach Boys sang “Good Vibrations” on the Music Pier. The area between 5th and 6th streets was quiet, with few pedestrians and not a single performer in earshot.
The only sound was the steady lapping of ocean waves on the shoreline.
