The Mayor is hereby authorized to close to traffic temporarily
any public place or street, or any part thereof, for such time as
he deems necessary, whenever, on account of a public celebration,
large assemblages of people, peculiar conditions or an emergency,
public safety or convenience will be promoted thereby. The Commissioner
of Police is charged with the duty of enforcing such closing upon
the Mayor's direction.
Reviewing stands and other temporary structures may be placed
upon parts of streets or public places closed, as herein provided,
with the consent of the Mayor and under conditions prescribed by him;
provided, however, that such consent may at any time be modified or
revoked by the Common Council.
[Added 7-21-1998, effective 8-6-1998]
Notwithstanding provisions of this chapter regarding encroachments
on streets or the Special Events Ordinance to the contrary, the issuance of a permit for the temporary
closing of streets for a block party involving fewer than 3,000 spectators
or participants shall not be conditioned upon the requester providing
to the City insurance, a bond or other indemnification of the City.
No person engaged in the garage business or in the business
of repairing, manufacturing or selling automobiles or parts thereof
or supplies therefor, or any business affecting in any manner automobiles
or vehicles, shall, except as otherwise expressly provided for by
law or ordinance, use any part of any street or other public place
for the storing, exhibiting, repairing or otherwise caring for automobiles
or vehicles.
The Commissioner of Public Works, with the written approval
of the Mayor, is hereby authorized to designate from time to time
streets or parts of streets in the City as § play streets§ to
be devoted during designated hours of the day to use by children for
playing of safe, innocent and wholesome games. Such designation shall
be in writing, describing the streets or parts of streets to be used
for such purposes and the hours of the day when it is to be so used,
and such designation shall become effective one month after such written
designation is filed with he Common Council.
A. Such designation of play streets shall be subject to the following
conditions:
(1) The neighborhood must not have a readily available playground.
(2) The street to be designated a play street must not be a main thoroughfare
and must not be much used for vehicular traffic. This is to be determined
by the Commissioner of Public Works with the consent of the Mayor
and the Commissioner of Police.
(3) A block club or similar group, through its designated leader, shall
first petition the Commissioner of Public Works for use of the street
as a play street.
(4) The block club or comparable group, through its designated leader,
must state the proposed days and hours to be used and that supervision
is available from the neighborhood along with the names of such supervisory
personnel.
(5) The block club or comparable group, through its designated leader,
must indicate with signatures that a majority of the residents agree
with the request.
(6) The records containing the designation of a street as a play street
and containing the written approval of the Mayor and the Commissioner
of Police shall be filed in the City Clerk§ s office. Such
records shall be available for examination by the public.
(7) No play street shall incorporate more than one City block.
B. The Mayor or the Commissioner of Police or the Commissioner of Fire
or the police precinct Captain may, without prior notice, immediately
rescind a play street designation by a written document to that effect
filed in the City Clerk§ s office.