Top city officials stated June 29 they don’t believe a newly-approved law will prevent the beloved greeter from waving and welcoming visitors at South Coast Highway and Brooks Street.
Apparently, the show can go on as long as current greeter Michael Minutoli follows proposed regulations on street performers, which includes remaining 10 feet away from curbs, crosswalks, and business entrances, Senior Administrative Analyst Jeremy Frimond said.
“I don’t have any concerns this ordinance will stop him from performing,” City Manager Shohreh Dupuis told councilmembers.
Still many long-time residents balk at the idea of putting any legal constraints on the fun-loving, warm character of greeter. Frimond shared a statement from Interim Police Chief Jeff Calvert, who promised officers would educate Minutoli on the new rules.
“Just at our initial analysis he’s 10 feet away from the curb, from the crosswalk, he’s 10 feet away from the business,” Frimond said. “Now sometimes he has cardboard and sets up a stage, so that wouldn’t be allowed. “Provided he’s not blocking access, he’s kind of mobile… and not collecting he’d be able to do that.”
Nearly 6,500 people have signed a change.org petition describing the street performer ordinance as “mean spirited and unnecessary.”
“Michael is not a Busker, nor has he ever had a hat or receptacle out on the sidewalk for money in the many years he’s been active in Laguna. He greets people because it makes him happy,” the petition states.
Councilmember Toni Iseman fondly recalled her first encounter with the original greeter Eiler Larsen in 1969, watching him wave his arms and bellow to cars. But the dangers of distracted drivers raised enough concern that she proposed Minutoli wave at visitors exclusively from the Greeter’s Corner at Main Beach.
“I certainly don’t have a problem with the greeter and I don’t have a problem with Michael,” Iseman said. “But I have seen some near [traffic collision] misses. … I think we have to watch out when things get into traffic.”
Councilmember George Weiss said he couldn’t support the ordinance change without first knowing the locations in the city where street performers could work under the proposed city law.
The City Council unanimously agreed to continue the discussion until city staff could present more details on July 13.
Was Eiler Larsen Ever Arrested?
From the LB Independent Police Blotter 1/26/2017
Police Suspect Greeter in Theft
Laguna Beach police arrested Michael Minutoli, 58, the town’s self-appointed greeter and the subject of a documentary film, for suspicion of possessing stolen property and misdemeanor theft and vandalism Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Minutoli, who is homeless, often wears distinctive jackets, hats and gloves as he welcomes passersby. He favors a spot the corner of Brooks and Coast Highway under a sculpture of another town greeter, Eiler Larsen, and initially took up Larsen’s task downtown in 2011.
Managers of a local hotel where Minutoli had stayed reported at 1:17 p.m. that their guest had taken a cable box. Police detained Minutoli at a nearby convenience store, where he allegedly tried to hide the missing electronics that police recovered, Sgt. Tim Kleiser said.