Monday, July 30. 2007
Check out our spinoff site for more People are Strange (funebrity.com)
 Those who haven’t heard of the most recent salvo in the war on loitering gang bangers may not believe their ears when driving near the Tacoma Mall. If all goes as planned they’ll hear Beethoven, Bach, and Vivaldi rather than loud gangsta rap. They may even roll the window down slightly on their tightly locked door to make sure they’re not hallucinating.
Here in T-Town it’s war and you have to give Pierce Country Transit a “C” for creativity. Tired of the thugs and wanna-be gang bangers loitering at the city bus stops near the mall, they are installing speakers this week in order to pump classical music from Seattle’s KING-FM into the Tacoma Mall Transit Center. The move is expected to cause the loud and intimidating to move on if nothing else.
Other attempts at making it unpleasant were city staged pinochle games on dangerous street corners. Yes, that was the idea of an expert who stated that ”It’s said that jolting routine in trouble spots throws criminals off balance”. I might add that If you interrupt a pinochle player with a good hand he’s likely to disrupt your ear placement. Of course there is an official statement, “It’s based on routine activity theory and situational crime prevention. You mix different types of activities in locations that are crime-ridden to change the composition of the environment” said psychologist Jacqueline Helfgott who chairs the Criminal Justice Department at Seattle University. I’m certain she’s never waited for a bus much less at that stop in Tacoma or she’d have seen pinochle as no match.
Bus drivers like Tony Wilson, one of the true experts, who has driven for 18 years and are excellent at quelling disruptions themselves was skeptical. “It could do one of two things: It could calm the beast or it could just stir things up, I think the reason we don’t have music on the buses is that you can’t please everyone, it would just cause drama."
”Rod Baker, chief of public safety for Pierce Transit is more optimistic, “If the stream of divertimentos, scherzos and polonaises reduces disorder at the mall, speakers may be placed at other stops.” Is this as crazy as I THINK it is? Full article
|
located an opera tape, set it outside for a half hour, and had peace the rest of the day. It just could work!
Frontpage - Top level