Seattle: Where Even the Buskers are Disney

Since Monday, Seattle's Parks Department has hired buskers such as Hickman to play from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays through September at Pioneer Square and four other parks downtown: Freeway Park, Waterfront Park by the Seattle Aquarium, Westlake Park and Hing Hay Park. Each busker gets paid $30 to play at a park during those hours.

The buskers are an expansion of the city's effort during the past two summers to change the flavor of downtown parks. As downtown draws more residents, parks officials have said it's important to get more use out of the parks, which largely have been taken over by homeless people and drug dealers -- intimidating office workers and downtown residents.

Under the theory that drawing more people into parks would make them livelier and safer, the parks department has held concerts and shown outdoor films there the past two summers.

That's from the P-I's article "Hired buskers strumming new life into the city." Now, busking is great. We love to see people performing in the street and we try to be generous when we see something we like. Seattlest is particularly inclined towards the Tuba Guy and that busker who owns the Ave, whatever his label is. He's the guy that would rather mock you as you walk past than actually collect any money from you, usually nearish to Big 5 with a little crowd of hangers-on. Seriously, that guy rocks. The conversation that would occur were some city-ling to approach that guy and feel him out on the subject of using his soothing and serene sounds to repel homeless people from Downtown parks would truly be something to witness.

Planting musicians in under-utilized parks is fine. Buskers go where the people are, not the other way around, but whatever. Paying them and then still allowing them to tempt listeners with an open guitar case full of coins and dollar bills is also fine. Sorta. Calling them "buskers" makes us think that Seattle is becoming so far removed from the real world that there may be no way back. What's next, hiring actors to dress up like homeless guys to give Downtown that urban edge while not subjecting park-goers to any untoward smells or interior class conflicts?

Not that it won't be nice to hear some music at Waterfront Park--just, please, don't call them "hired buskers."