But what would you do if you were in charge of planning for crowd control and public safety at this event, and the pathways are already quite clogged with the 10 year old violin trios? Perhaps allocate a side street and let them all compete without amplication? I do n't know. But I know the safety issues are very serious, and include, or included in the past the type of crowds that would drag you along with them, and toward barbecue grills and sometimes open flames. There are dogs in the mix, and I have seen pit bulls, on leash but not muzzled, at cheek level of babies. Oh but he never bites and it is only the way they are trained and not the breed of dog. I forgot that. There is very little open space for bluegrassers etc. to jam. There are people setting up big pianos etc. on walkways.

You have to be able to get ambulances or fire vehicles through. You have to be able to disperse a crowd quickly if there are gunshots, as there were a couple of years ago, or "events" such as a terrorist attack, and the Seattle Center is a target.

I don't care if some people can earn money there busking while others do it for free. That is not an issue to me. I also don't care if they pay Joan Baez or Paul McCartney to come and give them big bucks while the Scandia Fiddlers keep on fiddling for free. I only care about public safety, and this is by nature an unsafe event. And the number of buskers and kids playing by the dozens will only increase.

I think in general on non-crowd weekends it would be great to stroll through the grounds and hear live music and pay the buskers as inclined. But it can't be unlimited at Folklife, and if it is not unlimited, how do you go about limiting it? By permit? By location? I don't know. mg