24-hour Philadelphia gas station blares opera music
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A 24-hour gas station in Germantown is blasting opera music at all hours of the day. Neighbors have mixed reactions to the music.
Since Tuesday, a Speedway in Germantown has been playing opera music.
CBS News Philadelphia hasn't heard back from Speedway's corporate offices on why exactly they've decided to do this, but some customers think it's helping deter loitering.
While customers fill up on Chelten Avenue, French tunes of Léo Delibes' Lakmé opera blast over the speakers.
People are either confused or amazed by the sound.
"I've never heard it before at a public place like this," Donald Charles, a gas station customer, said. "That's something."
"I think it's nice," Verna Tarpley, a Germantown resident, said. "It's really nice. The first time I've heard it."
While others are wishing they could just press skip.
"I think they need to change the music," Spencer McLeod, a Mt. Airy resident, said. "It was really loud and then, the echo, it was going like three blocks down over."
Gas station employees won't comment on why they play the music, but CBS News Philadelphia has seen other businesses use this tactic before. They use it as a way to deter loitering.
Several customers believe the new playlist might help with the issue.
"What a creative approach, because we have too much conflict in our community," April Warwick, a Germantown resident, said. "Music soothes the savage beast."
"That'd be good if it kept crime down or loitering," McLeod said.
Some customers and residents in the area say the music was too loud so employees have turned it down.
CBS News Philadelphia also checked in with the businesses across the street and they say the music hasn't been an issue for them.
