The summer concert series at Williamsburg’s East River State Park is loud. It attracts large crowds, and some of them leave behind litter. Some nearby residents are forced to take vacations over these weekends, the Brooklyn Paper reports.
“The entire area is just devastated,” a member of the local community board told the paper. “If you can’t get out of the neighborhood, your weekend is ruined. There are so many people, you can’t walk through the streets.”
Community Board 1, which covers North Brooklyn, wants the series to quiet down and clean up. The board seems on a mad crusade of late, going so far as to suggest a moratorium on new liquor licenses in the neighborhood, arguing that there are enough bars, thank you. (Noise concerns have been problematizing attempts to have fun across Brooklyn, in Greenpoint, Park Slope and Coney Island.)
Though this East River State Park controversy may be overblown. Based on an interview with the head organizer, the Paper reports that “there are already scores of police officers on surrounding streets to maintain order during and after concerts, and the stage has already been moved to reduce ambient noise—even though she hasn’t received many complaints.”
So what’s the problem? A quote toward the bottom of the article suggests, as always, it’s the olds.
“When they leave, they leave bottles, cans, condoms, and they urinate on our trees,” a N. 8th Street resident told the Paper. “It’s impossible for senior citizens to sit in front of the back yard and enjoy the day.” (Conversely, doesn’t it seem to be impossible to enjoy anything because of senior citizens complaining?)
But the youngs are also upset. “We live on the street that leads directly to the entrance of the park,” one L editor tells me, “and every day there’s a waterfront show it’s a non-stop parade of people going to the park, and in the evening a loud, drunk, noisy mass going back to the Bedford L. I try to spend those days in a different neighborhood.”
I used to live on N. 7th St and Bedford. If you’re going to live in the immediate vicinity of the Bedford L, you’re forced to put up with the noise. Period.
“We live on the street that leads directly to the entrance of the park,” one L editor tells me, “and every day there’s a waterfront show it’s a non-stop parade of people going to the park, and in the evening a loud, drunk, noisy mass going back to the Bedford L. I try to spend those days in a different neighborhood.”
Not a big deal. Suck it up or move.