ACCULTURATE THOSE PANHANDLERS!

Chicago is notorious for its aggressive panhandlers, and for its ward-heeler politicians for whom productive people never pay enough taxes.  Where the city won't protect its businesses, the businesses have to do so themselves.

Walgreens has decided that playing classical music outside certain Chicago stores will keep away loiterers and panhandlers. Whether a blast of Bach works is anybody’s guess, but the pharmacy chain along with other major retailers has previously employed symphonic security in the western U.S.

The Sun-Times this week found classical music greeting customers as they approached the entrance of stores in Greektown, the West Side and River North at 641 N. Clark St. It plays from speakers connected to the building that are covered by a protective screen.

Customer reaction and the results appeared mixed.

It's a limited repertoire, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Rossini’s William Tell Overture and Strauss’ Radetzky March.  The sob-sisters, predictably, don't like it.

Douglas Schenkelberg, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said he found the Walgreens tactic “really disturbing” when a reporter told him about it.

“The root cause of homelessness is a lack of housing and the problem is not going to be solved just by getting people to move from a parking lot to somewhere else,” he said.

Schenkelberg said merchants should reconsider policies that “treat people like a nuisance rather than like human beings.”

He commented that a 7-Eleven downtown near his office fights loitering by playing loud operatic music, or sometimes children’s songs, and by having high-intensity lights near the door.

A 7-Eleven executive could not immediately be reached for comment.

We could talk about deinstitutionalization and snob zoning, but that is so last century.  We could also talk about sanctuary cities.

On the West Side, the Walgreens at 2340 W. Madison St. showed the limits of the deterrence. Two men who said they were homeless were gathered near planters outside the store, with music softly playing in the distance. They said it’s a decent spot for shade and shelter when it rains.

“We don’t want to approach people,” said Kevin Gregg, who said he’s been homeless for two years. “When we go into the store to shop, they make accusations and follow us around.”

Gregg said the shelters can’t help because they are full of migrants. “I’m not blaming anybody. There’s just a limit to what the shelters can do,” he said.

Retailers, whether in big cities or suburban malls, have come under pressure from increased thefts and pandemic-related disruptions, said John Melaniphy, president of Chicago-based retail consultancy Melaniphy & Associates.

He said merchants are looking for ways to hold down crime and youthful rowdiness while keeping locations attractive for shoppers.

Be careful how you describe "youthful rowdiness" in Chicago, the current mayor will scold you for your choice of words.

This is what Chicagoans voted for.  This is what Chicagoans deserve.