Story Archive

A Pain in the Arias

A 7 Eleven store in Jacksonville, Fla., has a problem with homeless people loitering around the store, “bothering customers” and leaving trash behind. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office crime map reported 27 criminal incidents within 1,000 feet of the store in the space of a month. As part of a 7 Eleven initiative encouraging “non-confrontational” methods of reducing loitering, they’re trying blasting classical music and opera at the gas pumps. “We have received very positive feedback from our customers,” a corporate statement said, “about the atmosphere created by the music devices piloted in several 7 Eleven stores across the U.S.” Some customers disagree. “Do they think the music will drive them away like the birds? That’s what they think,” one said. (MS/WFTV Orlando) ...Perfect description: the solution sounds like it’s for the birds.