MUSIC TO FIGHT CRIME BY

OSHAWA -- A downtown bar owner is hoping classical music will repel
the crowds that congregate on the sidewalk outside his establishment
and the City is willing to give it a try.

When Joseph Saraco took over ownership of Corner Pocket just over a
year ago, he knew the downtown bar had a seedy reputation.

But even he was surprised by how out of hand things had
become.

"It was nuts, just nuts," he says recalling his first few months
overseeing the Prince Street bar. "There were people doing lines right
off the tables."

Today, Mr. Saraco says things have improved "one hundred per cent" on
his watch.

The bar and washrooms have been renovated and people caught using
drugs inside are barred from returning. He estimates about a dozen
dealers have been kicked out too. There is live music on Friday nights
and even karaoke.

Now, the biggest problem is the hoard that regularly gathers on the
sidewalk out front.

When Mr. Saraco tried to renew his business licence before the new
year, councillors raised the alarm, asking that he install outdoor
security cameras to deter crime on the street.

He balked, arguing the $15,000 cost would force the business to close
its doors.

Enter the classical music compromise.

At Monday's meeting of the audit budget and corporate services
committee, councillors agreed to let Mr. Saraco try playing classical
tunes outside Corner Pocket, on the condition that he also point one
of his existing indoor cameras at the street.

Using classical music to deter crime and loitering isn't new. The
trend started at 7-11 convenience stores in the 1990s and is now
employed everywhere from crime-ridden American street corners, to
subway stations in London, England.

Locally, the Oshawa Centre has made use of the idea, playing classical
music outside the movie theatre on certain nights.

"A camera will deter the activity, music will deter the activity, but
you also have to change your business and manage it to get different
kind of clientele," warned Coun. Parkes, who says she once had a
negative encounter in the vicinity of Mr. Saraco's bar. "It's tough to
turn a place like that around. You have to have a zero tolerance for
drugs and drug activity."

Mr. Saraco said he's trying his best to change the bar's image and
believes the City should help by moving some of the social services
agencies away from the downtown core.

"They put it all on us to fix, but there's only so much we can do," he
said. "You have a methadone clinic and all these things downtown.
Where else are all those people going to congregate?"