Street "Performers" and Water "Sellers"

Why do people give them money? It's not because they are shaming them into sympathy or badgering them like a panhandler. People give them money because they perceive a value in the service a busker provides....entertainment. Like I said, what others enjoy and are freely willing to pay for is just none of your business.

Let's see. They buy a costume. They put themselves into character. They manage to show up every day. They pose with your snot nosed bratty children and drunken smelly downtown partiers and all they ask is a small voluntary donation. Hell yes they're working. And it's harder work than a lot of them gobernment jobs.

LAS VEGAS -- Metro Police are targeting unlicensed vendors who sell bottled water on the Las Vegas Strip saying some of that water could be unsafe.

Officers say they've seen used bottles repackaged and resold with tap water to thirsty tourists looking for a cool drink on a warm day.

Link

I'm not petitioning for the return of the mob, but they did bring some efficiency when attempting to solve certain problems. If it was decide that these "characters" were not generally liked, they would be gone. There would be no money spent on police, and jail, and paperwork, and court, but the problem would immediately be solved. These folks would be told to go away. A second warning would come in the way of a beating and a trip out of town. Don't get caught a third time. Virtually zero would experience warning 2 or 3, because they understood the outcome.

No money wasted and problem solved. That would be nice.

I'll take street performers and H2o sellers over pick pockets and thieves.

alanleroyII- When these"buskers" start paying taxes and social security, like real employed workers, then I will reconsider their right to "entertain". You say " what others enjoy and are freely willing to pay for is just none of your business"- well it is my business when I find myself being forced to accept their "entertainment" as I walk. My reaction to their presence is none of your business. I have the right to walk throughout the streets and sidewalks without being exposed to "buskers" who only ask for a "small voluntary donation". I, and millions of other people go to Vegas to enjoy myself. Having to deal with these "buskers" is not what I consider enjoyment - I would enjoy Vegas a lot more if these people were barred from being the nuisance that they are.

Fortunately we live in a free society and the likes of drmilled or Boilerman or the Mob can't control how people dress and entertain others on Fremont street. The bottom line is that it's considered free speech and beyond his ability to suppress..except of course if he really tried hard, he might be able to simply choose to ignore them.

I imagine drmilled would want women in revealing short shorts and bikini tops banned from the tender sensibilities of his all knowing presence too....and then who's next? ...and who get's to decide what entertainment is right or wrong for us and where we spend our hard earned money? drmilled? I don't think so.

At the ABC Stores, and they are the HUGE bottles, Ice Cold in the Cooler Chests.

........... Maybe not even "a buck", I think they are .99 cents.

Rick

Damn, you have the power to decide if they have the right to entertain?

Think about the logistics of legitimately selling water.

You would probably need to buy the water at a discount place like Costco or Smart and Final.

On the day you are going to sell, you need to fill a cooler with bags of ice and put the water in it.

You must next find a casino parking lot or other parking lot near the strip. You will need two people to carry the cooler or a cooler with wheels. You must haul it to one of the overhead pedestrian bridges. You are then out in 100+ degree heat selling bottles at $1.00 per bottle, with very little profit margin.

Truth be told is that they always offer to unscrew the lid from the bottle for you, which no legitimate vendor is ever going to do. I've looked at coolers and could see the lid of the bottle separated slightly from the little lock ring, meaning the bottle was already open.

If they are licensing certain people to sell it, I would seek them out even if they are charging more. I don't want water that was filled from the bathroom or some other place.

"Flavored" water, especially if it has added protein, should cost more. Some of those sellers have to rummage through dumpsters and garbage cans to find quality empties, than fill them at some restroom, seal them, chill them, and deliver them to their retail location. Others just go to a store and spend the less than $0.25 per bottle for the generic, unflavored kind.

I have never, and most likely will never purchase bottled water from a street seller. Especially since I can get it for FREE in the casino, and, sometimes two while I tip the CW the same dollar. 99% of the time, I always have a bottle of water with me, though usually the temperature is more ambient.

As for the street performers, and costume characters, etc.... As long as they do not hassle anyone, are civil, and obey the law, I have no issues with them. Or the porn slappers.

In fact, I kinda like the "showgirls".