New war erupts around Sam Adams - this time, between street performers jostling for space under his statue

With additional reporting by Kayla Canne.

City Councilor Sal LaMattina says he enjoys street performers. But faced with complaints about "bullying" from the amplifier-enhanced dancers in front of Faneuil Hall - from both tourists and other performers - he says it's time for Boston to consider some sort of busker regulations.

The City Council today agreed with a request from LaMattina, who represents the North End, and Councilor Bill Linehan, who represents downtown, for a hearing on street-performer permits, which they say would give police a better way to enforce municipal noise ordinances and prevent bullying by setting up a schedule of fines. Under their initial proposal, the city DPW would issue annual permits, which could be revoked for five or more violations.

Although the proposed ordinance calls for an annual $40 license fee for each performer, LaMattina said he's not that concerned about the money that would be raised, because his goal is to give all street performers a shot at popular locations. And he said he could foresee some sort of scheduling mechanism for an area like the space in front of Faneuil Hall - which, unlike the areas around the Quincy Market building, is not overseen and regulated by the company that leases the marketplace from the city.

LaMattina pointed to Cambridge, which already regulates street performers. Boston had a stringent set of regulations until 2006, when it agreed to rip them up after a group of street performers filed a First Amendment suit against the city. He said he has gotten complaints for years from both residents and performers about being "harassed and threatened" - most recently from a performer who lives in the North End whom he said was bullied out of trying to perform in front of Faneuil Hall.

Councilor Tim McCarthy said he would welcome regulations that would cut down on "offensive" language and "music so loud you can't even walk by and not have a conversation."

Councilors Tito Jackson (Roxbury) and Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill) said they appreciated the opportunity for a hearing - to which street performers would be invited to testify - but raised the First Amendment as a major issue.

Jackson noted that what some consider "offensive" speech is protected under the First Amendment. "Just ask Donald Trump," he said. He worried that any regulations would go too far and penalize particular groups. And he pointed to efforts by Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., which runs Faneuil Hall Marketplace, to crack down on buskers and to push out some of the market's pushcart operators. He urged fellow councilors to "be cautious to not step in the same pile of Ashkenazy that is out there" and said the DPW is not the city department he'd want ruling on First-Amendment questions.

Zakim, who noted many street performers use the Dartmouth Street side of the BPL in Copley Square, said that what may be a bigger threat to the safety of visitors is the stunts done by the roller bladers and skateboarders who also use that area.

Councilor Michelle Wu said she is concerned about the ramifications of setting up yet another city permitting system; she said the reason she got into Boston politics in the first place was that she got incredibly frustrated trying to get all the permits she needed to set up a small business here after moving from Chicago.

Councilor Ayanna Pressley (at large), said buskers add enormous vitality to the city - and even help spur economic growth - and that the council should draft an ordinance that will lead to the same sort of sidewalk sharing as the city is trying to bring about for motorists and bicyclists on city streets.

Before the hearing, street performer Stephen Baird of Jamaica Plain - who lead the successful suit against the earlier city regulations and who helped draft Cambridge busker rules in 1990 - said news of the proposed ordinance came to the busker community as a complete shock.

"Most [performers] have no clue this is happening," he said.

Baird said he wrote the city council offering his help in drafting Cambridge-like rules for Boston but that he has not heard back. He also asked for a copy of the proposed law but has not received one. The lack of public input concerns Baird, who said this could've been a collaborative process.

Permits are effective in decreasing the number of arrests, Baird said, adding that he would not be completely opposed to a permitting process in Boston. But Baird said any legislation has to protect the freedom of expression that performers are entitled to.

"I like permits because right now ... the police can use other law and it's very discretionary – you're blocking too much of the traffic or it's disorderly conduct," he said. "If you have a piece of paper that says you can do it, it stops the opportunity to arrest. I have a real problem on enforcement practices and geographical limitations that favor a select group of people, and if any of those elements are in this new law then I will challenge it."