By PoliceOne Staff
SAN FRANCISCO — An owner of a Burger King in San Francisco is using classical music as a way to combat loitering and panhandling.
KRON reported that the owner asked his landlord for permission to blast classical music after a sign posted on a window that stated loitering and panhandling weren’t allowed didn’t work. The owner said loitering has been a big problem at the eatery’s location.
Another business owner on the same street of the Burger King said the homeless population in the area can be a problem.
“They make a lot of mess on the sidewalk they bring a lot of garbage and sometimes they scream, they scare children, they scare women, so it’s really scary for people who are tourists,” said one person.
The executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness said the owner’s tactic is noise pollution and that the city needs real solutions to combat the problem.
The restaurant started playing the music around the same time a nearby entrance to Civic Center BART, another area riddled with loitering, was sealed off last year.
