In the new fairy tale, fine music repels people from the town.

Read this and tell me how this is supposed to work.

Residents of one Hartford neighborhood hope Beethoven and Mozart will help drive drug dealers and prostitutes out of a local park.

Activists propose playing recordings of classical music in Barnard Park in hopes of annoying petty criminals so much that they’ll leave. They also hope the music will make the park more pleasant for other people once it is cleaned up.

Resident Carol Coburn said she came up with the idea after reading about similar efforts in West Palm Beach, Fla., where she said crime decreased as much as 40 percent in parks where classical music was played. Cities in Canada and Australia have reported success with similar efforts.

OK, I confess, I’m totally baffled by this one.



  1. dD says:

    Hmmmmm, I think this tactic might work in the whitehouse as well….. Just a thought.

  2. RonD says:

    Maybe classical music has the same effect on petty criminals as rap music does on me. I avoid it whenever possible.

  3. BgScryAnml says:

    Come on, these entrepreneurs will simply add a sir charge for experience enhancement. The good citizens of Hartford should visit with the Houston Police Chief who wants cameras everywhere from the streets to the bedrooms. http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=4282#comments

  4. Donald says:

    The people doing this must be musical and unintelligent morons to even considering using the music of Beethoven and Mozart as a repellent. This shows how stupid America has become.

  5. jasontheodd says:

    Hey, play it on this site and well see if it drive anybody away. I bet ya it’ll work….

  6. David says:

    Obviously, somebody thought it would be wise to have all the hookers cultured. I guess the plan got lost in translation.

  7. doug says:

    I recall a few years ago some convenience stores began using classical music to drive off teenage loiterers, and evidently it worked.

  8. Donald says:

    I think while petty crimes might decrease, we may see an increase of organized mafia crimes and vendettas in parks. 😉

  9. Daniel Udsen says:

    They do the same thing in the end of copenhagen central station.

    Or what they do isn’t just playing clasical music they are abusing it by playing it on a 20year old speaker systems that basicly is baset on the old tin can and wire system, and makes every thing sounds like cat abusing, it sounds absolutely dreadfull, even to people who love clasical music, phaps especially to people who apresiate clasical music, performed well.

  10. Pimp Daddy says:

    This has actually worked quite well in a place nearby to where I live.

  11. Smitty says:

    @9 – that would only happen if they concentrated on opera music.

  12. N. Eric Phillips says:

    .As everyone who has seen A Clockwork Orange would know, Beethoven is only effective after administering the Ludovigo Treatment.

  13. pond says:

    Soothing sounds calm the savage breast, or some such…

    What I want to know is how much the RIAA is going to charge Hartford for using the music?

  14. Brenda Helverson says:

    they did something similar at a famous San Francisco R&R venue – I think it was The Fillmore West. Because they had 2 shows a night, they needed to clear the place out after the first show. They accomplished this by playing Wayne Newton’s Danke Schoen at a fairly high volume. The “disconnect” reportedly caused people to leave so that teh next audience could be seated.

    However, I agree that playing classics in the park probably won’t accomplish the same thing.

  15. Dave Drews says:

    Country music would do it for me. Most makes me physically ill.

  16. All thats going to do is make some cultured Criminals.
    They should play some RAP!
    Better yet they should invest in very large HD Plasmas TV’s, amps, and Bose Speakers..hey now,.see where I’m going with this……….:-)


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