That’s great to hear about the ban on amplified music. There’s nothing worse than enjoying a quiet dinner and conversation only for it to be disrupted by a cacophony of noise.

The headline is misleading. Live music and busking for musicians are usually interpreted differently. This changes will not attract live music to downtown as Mountain View still has the most restrictive policies toward live music entertainment. If anything, Mountain View will just legalize and attract with this new policy every shade of busker, truly talented or not, on every corner. Head on over to Los Altos First Fridays or Palo Alto Third Thursdays if you want some great professional live entertainment by local groups not under the threat of getting cited by the police or having whining diners throw shade.

Despite the unsubstantiated claims in this article, tax-payers, in fact, were not involved in any meaningful way into the decision to permanently ban vehicles from Castro Street.

This was a top-down decision made by bureaucrats who had their thumb on the scale. Permanently banning vehicles from Castro Street was a really stupid, top-down decision.

Consumers like convenience, and unless you live walking distance to the area, getting to and around downtown MV now is the opposite of convenient.

By the way, why is it you can exit downtown MV onto Central Expressway, but you can't turn from Central Expressway onto Evelyn Avenue -- given that the first half block of Castro Street is actually open to vehicles?

Crickets from the city of Mountain View. [Post removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]

Tonight, Sunday 14 May, there was a guitarist with an amp busking on Castro St. Perhaps he didn't get the memo regarding no amplified music that is currently preventing professional acts from providing music.

@Billy -tax payers- are US. There is not any special tax that makes any of us special (is there? or did I get that wrong?).
I pay property owner Tax (some to City)
I pay sales tax (some to City when purchased in Mountain View)
(I don't pay Business Tax to the City)
I pay Federal Income Tax (some small part returned to City)
- I also happen to be a USA Citizen, (it's on my passport)
- That also does not entitle me, IMO in specific "city resident" issues

just a tax-paying, citizen-resident of MV (oh Yes - registered Voter)
/Peace and Love to all in this Castro Street Public Process/

Two nearby sentences contradict each other in rapid succession: The first crows about how busking will get better, but the one right after that says no amplifiers are allowed.

Does the City realize forbidding amplifiers kills 90% of busking? Only a tiny amount of busking is by, say, acoustic guitars or perhaps horns.

Nowadays, most busking is with small, not-particularly-loud amplifiers and moderns lithium ion batteries. Agreed: Players with gigantic PA systems that can be heard at a great distance need to be reined in, but not users of small, respectfully-sized amplifiers.

That guitarist referred to above plays quietly and tastefully, on solo jazz guitar or duos with a standup bass. He's there often and has been a positive for many years. Sayonara, buddy...

A proper noise ordinance should simply copy that of other cities: Base it on decibels, not the platform used. Set the mark at 15db above the ambient noise and you eliminate that obnoxious lady with a big public address system who sings Karaoke to a vast repertoire of B-52s covers. You can hear her a block away. Not so with buskers who play tastefully and quietly today, but who now must go away.

Such is the flawed 'no amplifiers' policy.

Another missed opportunity from our City Council and city staff. This article makes it sound like there will be more amateur music downtown. The reality will be exactly the opposite... sigh.