I can still remember the darkest days of urban decline in New London, when State Street, in a failed remake as a pedestrian mall, was closed to traffic and canned music wafted from speakers mounted along the abandoned street.

I can still remember the strange sensation of hearing that recorded music as a kind of eerie soundtrack for the empty blocks, devoid of both cars and pedestrians, one empty storefront after another.

In comparison, State Street today is lively and bustling. There are cars, anyway.

So I felt some chagrin not long ago, walking across the downtown Parade Plaza, to hear loud canned music coming out of mounted speakers that I had only seen used in the past for live events.

Someone with their ear to the ground in the city — when I asked about this random playing of recorded music there — told me it's meant to make the space more uncomfortable for loitering by the homeless.

Indeed, as I looked closer, not only was the empty Parade filled with recorded music, but the benches around the perimeter of the plaza were missing.

Also missing were the homeless men and women I've grown accustomed to seeing there.

It sure looked like an official eviction, with the benches missing and recorded music playing loudly to an empty plaza.

It turns out it's a thing, and there have been national news stories about communities using music to discourage the homeless from congregating. They owned up to the tactic.

Mayor Michael Passero, when I asked about the music and benches and the theory that the homeless were being made unwelcome, assured me in an email that the city is a welcoming place.

"This city administration works very hard with our nongovernmental agency partners to ensure that all residents and visitors have access to the services they need," the mayor wrote.

"We have an especially close partnership with the Homeless Hospitality Center," he noted, "to ensure that all persons experiencing homelessness in New London are housed."

I certainly believe all that to be true, and New London, for a small poor city with so many challenges, does a lot of commendable work in promoting social justice.

The mayor said city public works added the music a couple of years ago to add a "pleasant ambiance" to the Parade area.

"There have been no complaints to my knowledge," the mayor wrote.

The benches, he said, "were removed as a safety protocol during COVID and because they badly needed refurbishing or replacement."

This strikes me as odd, because I don't know of any other benches that went missing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, the nearby Waterfront Park is still filled with them.

I've always enjoyed the Parade benches. I don't remember them being in disrepair. I've eaten many a lunch on them, listening only to the occasional gull cry, not canned music.

They are an integral part of the plaza design and they work well, making the space, as the urban designers envisioned, an area in which to congregate, not just a big expanse of concrete.

After the failed conversion of State Street into a pedestrian mall, New London ought to be mindful of the lessons learned from that experience. It's important to have people populate and use the downtown spaces, all kinds of people.

With so much COVID relief money now swirling around the city, I sure hope that whatever refurbishment or replacement of the Parade benches is contemplated happens very soon.

I miss seeing some familiar faces there.

The Parade is lately looking a little more ghostlike than it should, a reminder of the darkest days of the city's downtown decline, with music eerily playing across an empty pedestrian mall.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com