February 10, 2015
Concern Over All-Star Weekend Concert
NoMad and Flatiron residents may have noticed a flurry of activity at the North Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza this week. There will be continual construction in the Plaza area until this Thursday, February 12th, in order to get the space set up for the planned festivities around NBA All-Star Weekend. Due to construction activities, there will also be significant street closures on Thursday, February 11th.
The major event of the weekend will be the free NBA All Star Concert, which according to reports will be headlined by Kanye West and Kevin Durant. The performance is expected to draw up to 10,000 attendees.
The Manhattan Community Board Five, which represents our neighborhood, has objected to the commercial size of the All-Star Weekend event. The concern is that the Pedestrian Plazas are intended to be public spaces for passive, recreational use. It also objects to the city’s approval of an event permit for such a public space without the opportunity for public review.
The Flatiron and NoMad districts pride themselves on their active, engaged citizens. Residents and businesses in the area are encouraged to voice their concerns that this event is out of scale to the neighborhood and will cause disruptions and potential damage that are not in the best interests of local businesses and residents. If you have any concerns surrounding noise, congestion, inconvenience or other effects on your quality of life, you can direct your comments to the following people:
The Mayor’s Office:
Dial 311, or use the more convenient 311 app from your smartphone.
File individual complaints with 311 and take down your complaint number.
Councilmember Rosie Mendez:
(212) 677-1077
Councilmember Mendez has oversight over the pedestrian plaza in question.
DOT: Attn: Margaret Forgione
(212) 839-6210
DOT is the city agency responsible for the pedestrian plazas.
CECM (Citywide Event Coordination and Management)
(212) 788-7567
CECM is the city office which approves event permits for the pedestrian plazas.
Twitter is also an extremely effective way to direct your concerns.
You can tweet @nycgov, @nyc311, @nyc_dot, @nycmayorsoffice, and/or @RosieMendez .
Please let Community Board Five know of any actions you take by emailing office@cb5.org.
