The owner of NYLA Fresh Threads in downtown Nanaimo has resorted to a popular, albeit annoying, children's song in a bid to deter overnight stays in front of his store. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

DO DOO DO DO DO DOO

‘Not something you want to be listening to all night long:’ Nanaimo store using ‘Baby Shark’ to deter overnight loitering

Jan 13, 2023 | 5:22 AM

NANAIMO — A downtown business owner is trying a novel way to keep his storefront safe, secure and clean overnight.

Before leaving for the day, NYLA Fresh Thread owner Leon Drzewiecki begins playing the viral children’s song “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong on the speaker outside his Commercial St. storefront. The new routine began Saturday, Jan. 7.

The one-minute and 20 second song then plays over and over and over for hours between the store closing and re-opening the next morning

“I thought I’d get…something that was definitely annoying but wouldn’t really be intrusive to anybody who’s going to be walking by,” Drzewiecki told NanaimoNewsNOW. “But if you’re going to be spend any time there, it’s not something you want to be listening to all night long.”

The speaker is hyper-focused to NYLA’s expansive alcove, meaning little noise extends out into the surrounding area.

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A site visit by NanaimoNewsNOW at 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12 revealed the music was playing at around 65 decibels immediately outside the front door.

Ambient noise in the alcove in between loops was around 50 decibels.

It was barely audible directly across Commercial St., blending with the surrounding downtown ambient noise at approximately 60 decibels and completely unnoticeable at the nearby Bastion St. intersection.

Drzewiecki was initially planning to play heavy metal music but opted for Baby Shark so not be a nuisance himself.

The move is in response to worsening social disorder in the area, which has seen Drzewiecki and his staff forced to clean up their storefront on a daily basis from people camping overnight.

“We’re physically having to remove their garbage, physically having to remove the needles they leave behind, their defecation, puke or whatever it is. It’s just been a huge annoying thing, a safety thing. It’s also insurance, it’s a huge liability because they’re also starting fires.”

Drzewiecki said surrounding business owners have given positive feedback, while he’s had to deal with some minor backlash elsewhere.

Security cameras captured a man throwing coffee at the speaker in an attempt to stop the music, while others threw rocks at the front windows.

Problems have intensified for the area at the top of Commercial St. over recent weeks, according to Drzewiecki, but he’s determined to continue building positivity downtown.

“The more positivity you put into a situation, the better outcome you’re going to have. If you let the graffiti build up, you let the garbage build-up, if you let the people take over the sidewalks then it becomes the Downtown Eastside Vancouver. That’s why I thought Baby Shark would bring a really fun way of turning the situation into [creating] more awareness.”

Drzewiecki admitted playing Baby Shark overnight was a strange move, but was better than alternatives including putting up gates, which would cost around $20,000.

Not only is the move financially prohibitive, he said it isn’t the atmosphere he wants to create in the area.

“It really puts the wrong message for downtown Nanaimo, I don’t want everybody to have big, huge iron gates they have to lock every single night and turn us into some of these big cities where it just takes all the niceness of being downtown. I really would like to not have gates.”

Drzewiecki is unsure how long the music will work, but is hopeful the movement spreads and other storefronts adopt Baby Shark or other songs as a way to deter overnight camping.

City of Nanaimo noise bylaws prohibit loud music or other sound disturbances between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m., however the restrictions are primarily limited to residential areas.

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