With the homeless crisis showing no signs whatsoever of improving, one popular bar on the Promenade has taken matters into their own hands and installed one of Stephen McMahon’s ingenious Blue Chirper devices.
Barney’s Beanery has very strategically positioned the device above the main entrance, in a deliberate attempt to dissuade anyone from sleeping on the benches, next to the permanently outdoor-placed tables, in front of the popular bar and restaurant on Third Street.
In May, 2023, we reported on the device invented by long-time Santa Monica local Stephen McMahon as a way to discourage the homeless from making camp and taking drugs in his building’s courtyard parking space and thus also preventing the inevitable repeat burglaries.
Then in September, we reported that demand for the Blue Chirpers was up because drug use at Reed Park is increasing. McMahon said then that demand for this deterrent has significantly increased, from a gentle, steady flow to “I can’t make them quick enough” and that the increase in demand is tied to what he sees as a worsening condition of the park and nearby area.
His idea is straightforward and is a testament to the axiom that necessity is the mother of invention. He combined the concept of blue flashing light — that is known to keep people awake, which is why it’s often used in warehouses and on heavy machinery — together with the extremely annoying sound of crickets and created a deterrent that he has proved to be highly successful.
As a result of those stories being run by the Daily Press and subsequently being picked up by KCAL and even the Daily Mail, word was spreading. According to McMahon, the West Side Regional Manager for Barney's Beanery, Jessica Sacher, became interested after a friend of hers saw the original story.
“So that's how it happened, but at the same time, I had orders coming out my ass that I had to deliver,” McMahon laughs, adding that Jessica’s husband and business partner, AJ Sacher, East Side Regional Manager for Barney's Beanery, was insistent.
“I said I'm not going to be able to get to your order until December and this was in early November, maybe even October. He said, ‘I need it, how can I speed the process up?’ And I didn’t know of any way. I mean, it’s not a question of money or anything easy like that, because it’s just me making them,” McMahon said, adding that after that conversation he was fortunately able to hire some help to speed up the box construction process.
The problem, McMahon explains, is that homeless people find the benches comfortable and the layout of Barney's Promenade-facing patio offers shelter and seclusion to sleep and/or take drugs. The problem was that the original Chirper was designed for small enclosed spaces and not a space as wide as the patio area. Working closely with Barney’s Maintenance Manager, Lance Umemoto, McMahon was able to tweak the design slightly while Umemoto constructed a sturdy steel bracket enabling the Chirper to be placed high up, above the entrance, so the electronics couldn't be tampered with. However, this meant the blue flashing strobe lights weren’t in a position to be as effective as they otherwise might be. Umemoto struck upon the idea of placing a mirror behind the device and hey presto, it worked like a charm.
“Lance and I are working at five o'clock in the morning because we have to get this thing installed by 7:30am and while we're there, the whole time we're working, there's a woman lying in the booth and they’ve tried everything to get rid of her,” McMahon says.
“And Lance was just fantastic, he built this bracket from scratch, welded it, fitted it and it’s just perfect … We test the Chirper and this woman who is apparently always there, every single morning and she never moves, no matter what the staff try to do. Suddenly she stirs and she gets up, shouts something about the awful noise, grabs her stuff and shuffles off,” says McMahon.
“I turned to Lance, who was in shock, and I said, ‘See buddy, it works,” laughs McMahon.
Barney’s Beanery is the first business in Santa Monica to adopt the Blue Chirper and given its 100% success rate and subsequent demand in residential locations, other stores are almost certainly going to want to utilize this deterrent.
“Running a business represents a lot of challenges, so this is just one more thing that the people in the promenade, the businesses are having to deal with,” said Jessica, adding, “The city has done a good job with cleaning the sidewalks and moving everybody along in the morning. So the challenge is at night, the end of the day, when it gets dark, the last metro that's coming through. That's the challenge for the businesses.”
McMahon says that more variations of the Chirper are coming, based on new and different requirements. Even the one at Barney’s Beanery will be further modified to be even more effective and this very much represents the first working prototype of a Commercial Variation compared to the more domestic or residential models and he’s set up a website with more information at bluechirper.com.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
