The shows will go on at Forest Hills Stadium but crowd concerns continue
A full summer of shows is set for Forest Hills Stadium after an agreement was reached between the venue and promoters, but a neighborhood leader remained concerned about safety and access for residents. Credit: Rock The Bells
The 2025 outdoor concert series at Forest Hills Stadium will go on as planned beginning May 31 after the venue operator and promoters reached a working permit agreement with the NYPD.
The deal, struck earlier this week, addresses security and access concerns raised by the local civic association, according to city officials.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. helped broker the deal with input from all sides, an official in his office said Tuesday, acknowledging there remain details to be negotiated through “some mediation."
Matthew Mandell, law chair for the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, a homeowners association that claims legal jurisdiction over private streets surrounding the venue, called any notion the disagreement has been resolved “preposterous.”
“They’re playing games now," Mandell said.
“There was a single meeting that wasn’t very long,” Mandell said, adding: “And now we know that meeting was just for show for them to claim there was some sort of mediation between the sides — when, in fact, there was nothing … to say we’ve agreed? That’s preposterous.”
The lengthy dispute appeared to reach an impasse last month, when the commander of the NYPD’s Legal Bureau informed the West Side Tennis Club, which operates the 102-year-old stadium, and the events producer Tiebreaker Productions, it could not issue sound amplification permits for events “until further notice” — in part, because the 13,000-seat venue lacked permission to close surrounding streets for crowd control.
In an April 14 letter to Tiebreaker, NYPD Insp. William Gallagher said a “proposed alternate security plan” for concerts at the site — plans that represented the promoter “has the authority to direct private security personnel under its control . . . to enter the private streets of Forest Hills Gardens Corporation” and conduct operation in connection with concerts — led the NYPD to conditionally approve the permit.
Mandell said the homeowners group had not granted the promoters permission to close down private streets surrounding the stadium.
The NYPD noted that streets would need to be barricaded on show dates, but Mandell said that would limit access for residents.
“It’s exactly like the parking lot at your supermarket or shopping center,” he said. “You can walk on the sidewalks, you can drive on the streets. But to have residents displaced from our homes — that’s not right.”
Richards, the borough president, issued a statement Tuesday that read, in part: “I have long been clear that under no circumstances should an individual or small group have veto power over the socioeconomic vitality of an entire community or the cultural influence of an entire borough.”
A spokesman for Richards, Chris Barca, said Tuesday “some mediation” between the civic association and concert promoters is expected to take place, noting: “I know that the civic folks have a whole range of issues — and the stadium folks have put out a whole range of solutions. … Our position is the civic folks are trying to be obstructionists. It’s very much that it’s their way or the highway. … Our take is the shows will go on.”
Mandell on Tuesday said the homeowners group isn’t opposed to concerts at the stadium, noting he’d attended about 30 shows over the years. But he added, pre-pandemic promoters never hosted more than about 20 shows per summer season — and now they want to host far more than that number. As of Tuesday, Forest Hills has 19 shows listed, including a midsummer three-night performance by the popular jam band Phish, and other acts with sizable fanbase.
The last concert dates are scheduled for late October.
Barca said the borough president’s office believes further negotiation between the promoters, the venue and residents will resolve the issues, including “potentially limiting the number of shows.”
“That’s something which [the Queens Borough president] is amenable to,” Barca said, “and something the stadium folks are deeply amenable to.”
The 2025 outdoor concert series at Forest Hills Stadium will go on as planned beginning May 31 after the venue operator and promoters reached a working permit agreement with the NYPD.
The deal, struck earlier this week, addresses security and access concerns raised by the local civic association, according to city officials.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. helped broker the deal with input from all sides, an official in his office said Tuesday, acknowledging there remain details to be negotiated through “some mediation."
Matthew Mandell, law chair for the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, a homeowners association that claims legal jurisdiction over private streets surrounding the venue, called any notion the disagreement has been resolved “preposterous.”
“They’re playing games now," Mandell said.
“There was a single meeting that wasn’t very long,” Mandell said, adding: “And now we know that meeting was just for show for them to claim there was some sort of mediation between the sides — when, in fact, there was nothing … to say we’ve agreed? That’s preposterous.”
The lengthy dispute appeared to reach an impasse last month, when the commander of the NYPD’s Legal Bureau informed the West Side Tennis Club, which operates the 102-year-old stadium, and the events producer Tiebreaker Productions, it could not issue sound amplification permits for events “until further notice” — in part, because the 13,000-seat venue lacked permission to close surrounding streets for crowd control.
In an April 14 letter to Tiebreaker, NYPD Insp. William Gallagher said a “proposed alternate security plan” for concerts at the site — plans that represented the promoter “has the authority to direct private security personnel under its control . . . to enter the private streets of Forest Hills Gardens Corporation” and conduct operation in connection with concerts — led the NYPD to conditionally approve the permit.
Mandell said the homeowners group had not granted the promoters permission to close down private streets surrounding the stadium.
The NYPD noted that streets would need to be barricaded on show dates, but Mandell said that would limit access for residents.
“It’s exactly like the parking lot at your supermarket or shopping center,” he said. “You can walk on the sidewalks, you can drive on the streets. But to have residents displaced from our homes — that’s not right.”
Richards, the borough president, issued a statement Tuesday that read, in part: “I have long been clear that under no circumstances should an individual or small group have veto power over the socioeconomic vitality of an entire community or the cultural influence of an entire borough.”
A spokesman for Richards, Chris Barca, said Tuesday “some mediation” between the civic association and concert promoters is expected to take place, noting: “I know that the civic folks have a whole range of issues — and the stadium folks have put out a whole range of solutions. … Our position is the civic folks are trying to be obstructionists. It’s very much that it’s their way or the highway. … Our take is the shows will go on.”
Mandell on Tuesday said the homeowners group isn’t opposed to concerts at the stadium, noting he’d attended about 30 shows over the years. But he added, pre-pandemic promoters never hosted more than about 20 shows per summer season — and now they want to host far more than that number. As of Tuesday, Forest Hills has 19 shows listed, including a midsummer three-night performance by the popular jam band Phish, and other acts with sizable fanbase.
The last concert dates are scheduled for late October.
Barca said the borough president’s office believes further negotiation between the promoters, the venue and residents will resolve the issues, including “potentially limiting the number of shows.”
“That’s something which [the Queens Borough president] is amenable to,” Barca said, “and something the stadium folks are deeply amenable to.”
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
Updated 42 minutes ago Nassau police are holding a news conference, and are expected to announce the identity of homicide victim Jane Doe No. 3 and her toddler, law enforcement sources say.
Top Stories
Updated 42 minutes ago Nassau police are holding a news conference, and are expected to announce the identity of homicide victim Jane Doe No. 3 and her toddler, law enforcement sources say.
