almost all above ground street performers that i'm aware of have to audition for their spot, in advance, get approval, and pay a fee (which is fairly low iirc).

there is tremendous competition to do so, and performing turf is rare, scheduled (they have a time slot), and so on. you don't get people just showing up playing in your spot when you wanted to after a long trip/etc. it seems to result in a pretty smoother and understood system.

i think it's probably a good thing.

as for the acoustic vs amped thing... there was a controversy a while ago, i think, about acoustic not being quite loud enough, then them being allowed battery amps, and over time, they've gotten louder and louder and ... well, here we are.