“It’s sad that classical music is seen as a repellent, but many cities use it to shoo vagrants away,” reads an unsigned editorial in Friday’s (12/14) Hartford Courant (Connecticut). “Danbury is considering piping it into Library Place, a favorite spot of loiterers. Does highbrow music really repel the down-and-out? Portland, Ore., police reported a 41 percent decline in calls for service at a light-rail station where classical music was played.… It has been used as a deterrent in transit stations in London, Toronto and New York.… It’s hard not to suspect that security patrols, better lighting and other changes that often accompany classical music in public places are what’s scaring off street people—not the music itself. To his credit, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton wants to do more than play music outside the library to make it vagrant-free. He wants a day center that would provide the homeless with job training, alcohol counseling and other services during the day, when they’re shut out of the nearby shelter. He wants to hire a security guard to patrol the library grounds and Main Street at dusk. Those all sound lovely.”
Posted December 20, 2012
