During KUNM’s investigation of the speakers playing music as an anti-loitering tactic by the City of Albuquerque, city officials pointed to the idea of so-called “Smart Cities” as its newest effort to push certain people out of public spaces.
“Smart Cities” is a broad concept around how cities use technology to update and improve their spaces.
Mark Leech, Director of Technology and Innovation for the city, said that for Albuquerque, “Smart Cities” is applying technologies to community problems.
The “community problem” in the hot seat is unhoused people on city property. The “Smart Cities” solution is installing speakers that play music or alerts to deter people from loitering or taking shelter there.
Leech acknowledged unhoused people tend to occupy these areas, but said they aren’t something he factors into the decision.
“We're always interested in reducing property damage, graffiti, but we're especially worried about fire,” Leech said.
As in fires set by people taking shelter in these spaces. KUNM asked how his department works with the city’s Health, Housing, and Homelessness Department to relocate these people.
“We don’t typically. And I don’t believe that was a factor in this occasion,” Leech said.
Using music to deter folks from loitering in public spaces isn’t new, but some community members have started to criticize it.
This escalated after music was being played at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr streetscape in downtown Albuquerque.
Anami Dass is the chair of the human rights board for the City of Albuquerque. She said this isn’t solving anything.
“This isn’t dealing with the homelessness epidemic. This is cultivating a hostile environment in order to get people to go away,” Dass said, “And the problem with public resources being spent on getting people to go away, is that, where are they able to go? Housed people can go home and hide from hostile environments, but people without houses have literally nowhere to turn.”
She compared the constant use of loud music to psychological torture, noting that while it disproportionatley affects people experiencing homelessness, anyone in the area will feel the discomfort.
Dass said there is a solution.
“I think the only real human-focused response to homelessness is housing people.”
Other “Smart Cities" are using tech innovations to create more long-term solutions to homelessness. These include data sharing among departments in order to get people the resources they need.
That means communication among rehabilitation services, city housing departments, and even the contractors installing technology like speakers, in order to find the best solution for the community.
