Music ain't a crime... yet

City Council may or may not figure out if it should be, though.

The New Orleans City Council instructed the City Planning Commission on Thursday to study the city’s current laws and “existing ambiguities” on outdoor live music and entertainment, and to suggest necessary amendments to local law.

The motion, passed unanimously, comes months after city officials announced that live outdoor entertainment was no longer allowed at any business in the city without a special permit. The change came although no new laws or regulations were passed.

The "announced" change in policy referred to here happened when Safety and Permits decided that a zoning regulation that requires music venues to close their windows and doors during live music performances must mean that all outdoor music is prohibited by default. 

The ambiguity city council is trying to resolve is deliberate, though.  

The interpretation does not appear on a list of Safety and Permits interpretations listed on the city’s website. The department’s director, Zachary Smith, told The Lens last year that interpretations can be less formal, including emails and even verbal communications. When The Lens asked him to point to where and when this interpretation was introduced, he could not.

“We believe we’ve made a decision. Whether it’s verbal or in writing, it’s something we don’t have a specific copy of it,” he said in August.

With no written policy to refer to, it makes decisions by the department more difficult to challenge. The reasoning isn't formal. It's just kind of out there; not something you can just find by opening a door or window, for example.

Anyway now we have to have a study. Then we'll have to have a law change. Eventually they'll probably just codify the policy as currently iterated. You know, because "balance" or whatever.

Palmer said that the study was vital considering rapid changes happening in New Orleans.

“I believe we are at an inflection point in this city,” she said. “We have seen an increased influx of different development pressures, population shifts, some by choice and others not.”

Councilman Jay Banks held a similar sentiment.

“The magic of New Orleans is its culture,” he said. “This study will give us the information necessary to balance the needs of the new developments and new residents and all of the other stuff that’s happening, but not losing sight of what makes New Orleans New Orleans.”