Apparently, West Palm Beach couldn’t think of anything better for its homeless population than to blare kids’ songs at them throughout the night.
Maybe try better infrastructure instead?
According to the Palm Beach Post, the Florida city has decided to blast the viral hit Baby Shark, and the lesser known but equally annoying Raining Tacos, near the Lake Pavilion to keep homeless people from loitering around its patio.
Because apparently, a city with the melodies of insufferable children’s songs is better than one with human beings sleeping in its public spaces. This appears to be true for West Palm Beach, at least, as the city expects to earn $240,000 from events at the pavilion this fiscal year.
“People are paying a lot of money to use the facility,” Leah Rockwell, the city’s parks and recreation director, told Palm Beach Post. “Thousands of dollars. We want to make sure people paying this money had a facility that was clean and open and continue to use it in the future.”
Rockwell says the weddings, business meetings, bar mitzvahs, and birthdays at the Pavilion shouldn’t be interrupted by someone tripping over a sleeping body. But might the music not also be bothersome for the event workers and attendees?
Plus, you know, harassing homeless people isn’t a good look. The Palm Beach Post reports, however, that the city is trying to help the homeless in other ways:
That doesn’t mean that blaring Baby Shark is still a good idea, though. Nearby Lake Worth Beach tried playing classical music to deter drug dealers and loiterers a few years back, but apparently everyone liked it. Likely no one will enjoy hearing Baby Shark on loop, but the move appears just as useless.
“Raining Tacos” is an obnoxious song playing at Lake Pavilion in West Palm Beach. City officials say it’s to deter people for congregating at the park late at night. Someone is still out here sleeping through it @CBS12 pic.twitter.com/YqJZHBU8fw
— Madeline Montgomery (@MadelineTV) July 11, 2019
“It don’t bother me,” Illaya Champion, a homeless man, told the Palm Beach Post. “I still lay down in there. But it’s on and on, the same songs.”
Instead of relying on Baby Shark, West Palm Beach should consider setting up alternate spaces for its homeless population.
“For us to now be talking about a children’s song being looped, I step back and I go, ‘Oh my,’” Diana Stanley, the head of a group that works with the city’s homeless population, told the New York Times. “Because I really do think the bigger conversation is: Why is that person sleeping there?”
Even Parry Gripp, who wrote Raining Tacos, weighed in, telling the New York Times that he plans to donate to a homeless shelter in the city and wants his lawyer to get the use of his music to stop.
“Something has to be done for these people,” he said, “and that’s not it.”
