Listening to music can calm, inspire, maybe even “save your mortal soul,” as ’70s pop singer Don McLean sang in his classic hit “American Pie.”
Putting aside the soul-saving aspect, music — or if it’s easy listening, Muzak — is commonly piped into stores and restaurants to drive a purchase or set a mood. It is also being used as repellent, not to draw people in but to drive them out, so legitimate customers can feel comfortable and safe.
That’s the purpose behind continuous, loud classical music blaring from the public address system this week inside LA Metro’s Westlake/MacArthur Park B (Red) and D (Purple) Line subway station. The practice — part of a set of tools adopted by Metro to bring back lost ridership — has been underway for about a month.
A man sleeps on the platform of the Westlake MacArthur Park Metro subway station as classical music plays to keep homeless people from sleeping at the station #metro #endhomelessness pic.twitter.com/y5TsqkCH36
— Sarah Reingewirtz (@sarahimages) March 14, 2023
“The idea is to create an atmosphere that is comfortable for spending short amounts of time transiting through our station, but not conducive to hours-long loitering,” said Metro in a statement about their piping of classical music into Westlake/MacArthur Park Station.
Playing out crime
Playing robust classical music, which in February included operas and marches, is one of several tactics LA Metro is deploying to cut crime and reduce loitering by the homeless and drug dealers who use the station’s dark corners for anything and everything but transportation. The hope is that if there’s less crime and less unpleasant activity, more passengers may choose to ride.
The Westlake/MacArthur Park Station, called a “hot spot” of illegal activity by LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, has seen a high number of drug overdoses, calls to police from transit customers, crime incidents and a stabbing death, Metro has said. The agency…
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