Montreal's Spoonman faces new busking restrictions

Cyrille Esteve, the spoon-playing fixtureoutside Ogilvy's department store in downtown Montreal, is once again at odds with city bylaw enforcers.

A new city ordinancemeans Esteve, who isknown to many as theSpoonman, has to move 60 metres every 60 minutes.

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Thebusker, who is in his mid-60s,said that requirementis "impossible."

"I need 30 minutes to set-up in the morning and 30 minutes to pack-up in the evening," he told CBC Radio One's As It Happens.

"So, if I have to move 60 metres every 60 minutes, I would be packing and unpacking, packing and unpacking."

And Esteve doesn't pack lightly there's the stereo for the fiddle music he spoons along to,his chair and the bike that he uses to carry it all.

"It's not like I have a stool and an accordion I've got a bike with boxes to carry my radio, my chair, my spoons. I have to obey the laws, but they have to be a bit tolerant of elderly people," he said.

He says the rule means he'sonly able to play half the hours he used to, and that's halved his buskingearningsfrom $40 a day to $20.

Those profits supplement his monthlywelfare cheque, he said.

Radio restrictions

Esteve said he'salso run afoul of another bylaw that says the maximum wattage for radios is 25 watts, and they can't be heard25 metres away.

The radio alsorequires a sticker from the city, but Estevesaidthe city is out of stickers.

"The sticker is mandatory, and the city doesn't supply them anymore," he said.

He's got a letter from the city saying they don't have any more stickers, and he'll show that to police if they ask.

A history of battling bylaws

This isn't the first time Esteve has found himself at odds withcity bylaws. It's happened before in 1999 and again in 2004.

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That last time saw hundreds ofMontrealers signhispetition protesting a city ban on playing the spoons downtown.

However, Esteve said this latest episodeis different.

"They said they would seize my stuff," Esteve said."That's thefirst time something like that happened."