CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT? City plays 'Baby Shark' on loop to keep homeless from sleeping in park

The songs have been weaponized before to annoy parents, babysitters and other formerly sane adults in proximity to children.

Now, "Baby Shark" and "Raining Tacos" are being used by city officials in West Palm Beach, Florida, as a property management tool.

To deter people experiencing homelessness from sleeping overnight at the city's Waterfront Lake Pavilion and Great Lawn, venues that offer "million-dollar views" for special events, West Palm Beach officials began playing the catchy, obnoxious tunes three weeks ago from strategically-situated speakers.

At 10 p.m., "Baby Shark" begins:

"Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo

"Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo

"Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo

"Baby shark!

"Mommy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo....."

After 1 minute and 45 seconds of additional "doo doos" for daddy, grandma and grandpa shark, tiny goldfish sing "it's the end," and that's true for the first round of the song but not for the madness, which lasts another eight hours until the sun rises over the intercoastal waterway that abuts the pavilion terrace.

Next up in the loop of torturous tunes is "Raining Tacos," a song about tacos ("shell! meat! lettuce! cheese!") falling from the sky:

"It's raining tacos

"From out of the sky

"Tacos

"No need to ask why

"Just open your mouth and close your eyes

"It's raining tacos."

The music volume complies with city code and is a temporary measure while officials explore setting enforceable hours for the Great Lawn and Waterfront Pavilion, said city spokeswoman Kathleen Walter.

The tunes, she said, are meant "to discourage congregating at the building and, if applicable, to encourage people to seek safer, more appropriate shelter through the many resources that are available."

Those resources include job training and a street team of advocates who "meet people where they are" and connect them with the help they need, including shelter and resources to deal with addiction or mental health issues, West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said.

"Guess it's good that this story is capturing so much attention, because I do hope it opens up a broader conversation, a nationwide conversation frankly, about the state of homelessness throughout the country," James said.

A few weeks ago, city officials brainstormed ways to deter unwanted behavior at the waterfront pavilion, the mayor said, which included people sleeping but also "unpleasant souvenirs left there, including human feces."

Music was suggested. The Parks and Recreation staff decided on "Baby Shark" and "Raining Tacos."

So far, it's working.

"All indications are that it's having the results we anticipated," James said. "Listen, it's a very annoying song. So yes."

Jennifer Ferriol, director of Housing and Community Development for the city, told the Palm Beach Post that they "know all the homeless by name and engage with them on a regular basis."

Good sleep is critical to a person's overall physical and mental wellness, and lack of it can compound challenges that those experiencing homelessness are already struggling to manage.

"Having to live without a place that is home is tiring - physically, mentally, emotionally, in every way," Bobby Watts, chief executive of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, told Rewire. News last year. "Your need for sleep is greater, but your ability to get sleep is even less than if you were living in a home."

Illaya Champion told the Palm Beach Post that he lies in the shade by the pavilion patio to protect himself from the sun and the rain. "It's wrong," he said of the new music. "It don't bother me. I still lay down in there. But it's on and on, the same songs."

The mayor said he understands why people would find the area attractive for sleep. At night, it is mostly quiet. The pavilion and lawn are right by the water, which brings a pleasant breeze during Florida's punishing summers.

"If you're looking for a quiet place to lay your head, that's where you would go," James said.

But the area was built as a "jewel" for entertaining and events, he said. "People pay good money to use the pavilion," James said, "and we want them to have a good experience there." Within the next week, he said the city plans to post signs that say the area is closed from midnight to 6 a.m. This will grant them enforcement power. "Again, we're not going to arrest our way out of the homeless problem," he said. "I think it's important to look at each person, to each situation, to make a decision" about how tackle the issue.

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