Mayoral Candidate Stands Up for Freedom of Song

Don Imus: an empty-headed shmo. Yesterday I talked with a supporter of Larry West, the independent candidate for mayor who came to the last Green Party of Philadelphia meeting at my invitation. West is campaigning to lower the age at which one may run for mayor or city council from 25 to 18. What I learned yesterday is that he's supporting a popular busker who'd been singing in the train concourse and has now been displaced to a less visible location. Michael, the West supporter with whom I spoke, said SEPTA put up new signs which interfere with the possibility to perform in the better location, and he clearly thinks this was intentional. He also suggests the fact that the singer is young, "black," and male was part of the reason SEPTA reacted this way. Whatever the motives, I definitely prefer more buskers over more corporate signs.