LA blasts loud classical music at the downtown subway station to scare off the homeless
Los Angeles has begun playing loud classical music in one of its downtown subway stations in a brazen effort to deter the homeless and crack down on crime.
LA Metro Operations and Security, in conjunction with local law enforcement, began playing piano sonatas, symphony orchestra pieces, and concertos by Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mozart on repeat at the Westlake/MacArthur Park subway station in January.
It was part of a safety pilot program that also includes tweaks to security cameras and lighting, as well as the addition of more cops and “Transit Ambassadors” who connect homeless people in the subway system for resources.
Metro officials said the move was necessitated by a large number of drug overdoses, calls to police from transit customers and even a stabbing in recent months as the city’s wave of homeless people took to underground caves to protect themselves from wild weather.
While classical music is often regarded as peaceful, critics say it is a form of “psychological torture,” noting that its high volumes can disturb people’s thoughts and cause them to distance themselves.
LA Metro officials began playing classical music in Westlake/MacArthur Park in January in an effort to deter the homeless. A homeless man sees her at a subway station in 2016
Many homeless people have taken shelter in the underground tunnels to protect themselves from the wild weather that has plagued California in recent months.
In a statement to the Los Angeles Times Recently, LA Metro spokesperson Dave Sotero said the classical music is being used “to restore security at the transit station” and “as a means of supporting an atmosphere suitable for transit customers to spend short periods of time in.” who wait an average of five to ten hours. minutes before the next train arrives.’
It came after 22 people died from suspected overdoses on the metrobuses and trains in just the first three months of 2023, after the system saw a 24 percent increase in crime last year.
So far, Metro officials say, the music has resulted in an “improvement in public safety,” citing a “75 percent reduction in emergency calls, a more than 50 percent reduction in vandalism, graffiti and cleanups.” ; and almost 20 percent less crime.’
The music is “not loud,” claimed Sotero, who said the compositions in the station play at just 72 decibels.
He also claimed that the music inside the station is quieter than walking on the sidewalk outside the station, which he said is over 80 decibels.
But reporters from the LA Times found, using a hand-held decibel reader, that just a few notes sounded at 73 dB, while the majority of the music clocked in at an average of 83 dBs.
During some strings, the sound boomed to 90dB thanks to the underground tunnel’s acoustics, though the volume decreased depending on where one stood in relation to the speakers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts decibel levels between 80 and 85 on par with gas-powered lawnmowers and leaf blowers, noting that hearing can be damaged after two hours of exposure.
Metro officials said the move was necessitated by a large number of drug overdoses, calls to police from transit customers and even a stabbing at Westlake/MacArthur Park station (pictured here in 2017)
Subway officials said the music is “not loud,” but an investigation by the Los Angeles Times found that much of the music sounded at 83 decibels.
Some commuters are now calling for the music to stop, saying the constant concerts are “psychological torture.”
The music is so loud, the Times reports, that when two police officers approached homeless people and tried to talk to them recently on Monday, one person had to put her hands over her ears to hear the officers’ demands.
He then leaned closer to the two homeless people and began to shout to be heard above the booming symphony.
Meanwhile, reporters for the Times found that outside the station, ambient street noise hovered only at an average of 72 dB.
“We want it off,” commuter Cody Johnson, 31, told the Los Angeles daily news last month. “It drives us crazy.”
He said the music hasn’t changed in days and has become monotonous. Johnson also claimed he thought the music backfired from what officials had hoped.
Musicologist Lily Hirsch said that through the use of classical music, the Metro is trying to attract more upscale residents and deter poor and homeless people
“Our blood pressure is going up,” he said. “People are getting more and more irritable because of this music. I don’t think it works.’
In fact, loud music has been used throughout history as a form of torture – forcing terrorists in Guantanamo Bay to listen to Metallica for hours on end.
And by using classical music, musicologist Lily Hirsch explains, the LA Metro is trying to attract more upscale residents and deter poor and homeless people.
“You try to attract certain people and make them feel comfortable with the association with classical music,” she said.
“And that’s what you see in fancy cheese shops that play classical music because they hope people feel like they’re part of some luxury elite world and then spend more money.”
At the same time, Hirsch, the author of Music in American Crime Prevention and Punishment, said classical music will send a signal to lower-income and homeless people that they are not welcome.
“It’s like a bird marking its territory when you hear the signal and say, ‘OK, this isn’t for me. This is for the old money mob,'” she said.
And that technique seems to be working. There are examples of teens leaving an area where classical music is played, not because they don’t like the music, but because of the associations,” Hirsch continued, citing 7-Eleven’s attempts to use classical music to encourage hanging out outside to discourage the Los Angeles. area shops.
Los Angeles is plagued by an onslaught of homeless people. Here, a man is seen walking past tents housing the homeless in 2021
Critics say LA Metro’s plan fails to address the root causes of homelessness
Homeless people are seen lining the streets of Los Angeles here in December
But when classical music is used for aggressive purposes, Hirsch said, it can feel dystopian and eerie.
One Twitter user even said that the intense string symphony blaring at the station “really gives it that Clockwork Orange feel,” referring to the psychological thriller.
And at the loud volume the music plays, Hirsch said, anyone walking through the Westlake/MacArthur Park station feels uncomfortable.
Continued exposure to that volume of music, experts say, can disrupt sleep and thinking and make people feel dissociated.
At a meeting of the LA Metro Committee on Civilian Public Safety, a member said it is a “psychological torture chamber.”
In addition, critics say, the loud music is not solving any of the root causes of California’s homeless epidemic.
“The city needs to address homelessness and people with mental health issues,” said Hamid Khan, an organizer of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. “You can’t close your eyes and expect people to leave.
“So-called bums riding trains is an old American phenomenon,” he added.
About one third of the total US homeless population – 171,521 people – is in California. That includes more than half of the country’s unsheltered homeless population, 115,491 people
California, and Los Angeles in particular, have been hardest hit by America’s homeless epidemic – with the highest numbers of people without shelter in the country.
A recent DailyMail.com review of data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that about one-third of the total U.S. homeless population — 171,521 people — is in California. That includes more than half of the country’s unsheltered homeless population, 115,491 people.
The state also added 9,973 homeless people between 2020 and last year’s survey and has the highest homelessness rate in the country, with 44 homeless people for every 10,000 residents.
Los Angeles has been hardest hit, the review found, with 65,111 homeless.