Activists say ‘Barney & Friends’ theme song playing on repeat at vacant San Pedro property for weeks is anti-homeless harassment

This has to be a joke.  The police and the city of Los Angeles allow the homeless to take over a whole section of a community.  Government does nothing to prevent it or to end it.  The people then, instead of shooting them, assaulting them, stealing their “homes”, plays music.  While this is not the song I would play, it gets the point across.  As for me, I would play the theme song to “Hawaii 50”.

“The theme song from “Barney & Friends” has been blaring 24 hours a day for weeks on Palos Verdes Street in San Pedro.

There are about two dozen homeless individuals who have pitched tents on the sidewalk there, and they say the blaring kids’ music is a not-so-subtle way to get them to move.

“It’s psychological,” said Danielle Nunez of Street Watch LA, a mutual aid organization that helps the homeless. “It is to keep people up. They can’t have a quiet space and it’s playing at nighttime so that people literally cannot sleep.”

It is not their space and the streets are not a Motel 6.  Maybe the homeless should move to a quieter neighborhood—like Hancock Park where the Mayor lives.  He can play the Garth Brooks song, “You’ve got friends in low places”.

Activists say ‘Barney & Friends’ theme song playing on repeat at vacant San Pedro property for weeks is anti-homeless harassment

Tents from a homeless encampment line a street in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. Some 7,000 volunteers will fan out as part of a three-night effort to count homeless people in most of Los Angeles County. Naomi Goldman, a spokeswoman of the organizer the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, said the goal is to “paint a picture about the state of homelessness.” (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

by: Rick Chambers, Sareen Habeshian, KTLA,  2/5/21   

The theme song from “Barney & Friends” has been blaring 24 hours a day for weeks on Palos Verdes Street in San Pedro.

There are about two dozen homeless individuals who have pitched tents on the sidewalk there, and they say the blaring kids’ music is a not-so-subtle way to get them to move.

“It’s psychological,” said Danielle Nunez of Street Watch LA, a mutual aid organization that helps the homeless. “It is to keep people up. They can’t have a quiet space and it’s playing at nighttime so that people literally cannot sleep.”

The vacant property is run by Jerico Development, Inc., and is used for filming.

“It’s hard,” said Reynalda Guterrez, who sleeps in a tent on Palos Verdes Street. “I mean, you hear Barney all day long, over and over and over again. With the lights blaring on you, you can’t get no sleep at night … You can’t talk to anybody.”

The music reaches 70 decibels at times, and is paired with bright flood lights.

“First the lights went on. They did that a few nights at first,” said Danel Love. “Then the music came on and it was loud … it’s traumatizing.”

KTLA reached out to Jerico Development for comment but did not hear back as of Friday night.

But after Street Watch LA tweeted about the situation, gaining reactions from hundreds, the music was turned off.

“Anti-homeless actions exist in forms of harassment and in this case, hostile music,” one tweet said. “The Barney song playing not only makes it harder for folks to sleep or have a quiet space, it infantizes the violence this building is inflicting on our neighbors.”

“It’s really nice not to hear it, but I’m still traumatized, I guess, from hearing it for so long, 24 hours a day,” Love said.