Along the Lafitte Greenway in Mid-City, a motion-activated speaker mounted outside the neighborhood Rouses Market has turned a grocery store wall into a talking one. Neighbors say the device has been blaring recorded commands that tell people to “leave immediately” and warn that law enforcement will be dispatched. Regular walkers and cyclists on the trail describe the messages as jarring and out of place for a public path, and they say the system has been going off at odd hours. What started as an anti-graffiti tactic has now landed the store at the center of a broader debate over surveillance and how private security spills into shared public space.
What the store installed and what it says
Rouses Market set up a motion-triggered audio and video…..