Several Queens lawmakers are throwing their support behind a controversial plan to rent out Flushing Meadows Corona Park for a Coachella-like music festival next summer, the Daily News has learned.
“The Panorama Music Festival will provide a fantastic opportunity for Queens to take its rightful place as a New York City showcase,” U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens) said in a statement.
Several promoters, including concert giant AEG, have asked the city for permits to hold music festivals in the sprawling park that hosted both the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs. The Parks Department said it is reviewing all of the applications and has not made a final decision on any of them.
But AEG’s Goldenvoice division won over Crowley, along with City Council members Julissa Ferreras Copeland, Karen Koslowitz and Peter Koo, after promising to donate a portion of ticket sales to the newly formed Flushing Meadows Corona Park Alliance.
Did you notice that 2 of these are the same pols who sponsored the council legislation for the amicus brief in favor of taking away parkland for a mall? Why do Koslowitz and Koo want money toward the Alliance that they have been frozen out of?
Does anything these people do make sense?
27 comments:
So now we know why an Alliance was formed just a few months ago. Good timing huh?
Rightful place as the city's showcase???? Doesn't this idiot Crowley character know that the US Open has been taking place in the park for 35 years??? The US Open isn't the biggest showcase in the country.
Now Ms Queens Boro President, HOW IS THIS GOOD FOR FAMILIES WHEN YOU DENY MY FAMILY FROM USING THE PARK FOR A WEEK? You are always touting " if it's good for families it's good for Queens". What do you mean by this? What crap!
All they see is more money to spend...
As residents of Queens we have only ourselves to blame. Only a few of us take to sites like this to object, and a few more may actually get a clip in the newspaper when they hold a protest. However people seem to be more worried about the vibrant diversity of our boro or who won last night's football game then the utter destruction of this once great boro and its flagship park.
We allow these politicians to do this when we reelect them time and time again, or don't even bother to go and vote. If all of Queens said enough next election, we could vote these morons out of office and put a qualified person in, but we all know this won't happen, so we only have ourselves to blame for nonsense like this.
Doesn't this idiot Crowley character know ...
Well, no he doesn't.
We are sure he is not pleased being outed by this board for having only the most tenuous contact with the community he represents.
Having no idea or expectations of what an elected official should be doing for them frees up the pol to serve the interests of the party by collecting money, er, fund raising for the organization. That's how your get promoted.
But you do have to show your face to remind the foggy voters that you are still vaguely involved in their lives, so you get this sorry assed picture in that paradigm of journalism. the Gazette: http://www.qgazette.com/node/135124
Here's a futile observation
This would never happen in Central Park. Sure they have summerstage and have thrown massive shows on occasion featuring the black eyed peas and Andrea Bocelli, but the park was still accessible. Even when Pope Frankie came to town.
But a whole fucking week of advertising and entertainment (advertainment)? And for all the pandering to and crowing about vibrant diversity, FMCP is attended by a big melting pot of all races and nationalities. While a week of this bullshit will only be attended by self-obssesed frivolous spending nimrods in their late teens and twenties and arrested development thirty and forty year old types. And the damage it will leave behind will probably be insurmountable or if our recently 12% wealthier elected officials make the privatization of the park official and residents will have to pay for the privilege of enjoying a sunny day of leisure in the park with the indignity of a cut in their paycheck for the upkeep of it.
And that Crowley is a pile of shit. And apparently a glaring example of the A.D. forty year old type I pointed out, being a creepy groupie for some vacuous teen idol
http://observer.com/2012/08/is-that-joe-crowley-jamming-out-to-call-me-maybe-on-the-today-show/
So expect him to mulling about when Ariana Grande goes on stage if this becomes reality.
Koslowitz is a County stooge who does not have her own voice. The fault however, lies in her constituents. They elected her.
Don't they need the USTA permission to encroach on its territory?
Katz doesn't support this.
What does Crowley care?
Virginny Joe and his family live 200 miles away from the park.
Another POS politician. It's time for this asswipe to go!
Katz supports what shes told to support by those who are in her pockets. saying you don't support it and actually fighting against it are two different things and Katz doesn't know her ass from her elbow.
FMCP doesn't belong to the USTA. Fix the fucking park !! That is all that the residents want. I dont know how simple i can put it, so i will repeta myself. FIX THE FUCKING PARK!!
FMCP is a crime ridden playground for junkies,rapist,drug dealers and murderers,I have not set foot in that park in 20 years,
It should be made a cemetery since so many have been killed there
Even the cops don't patrol it at night,it's that dangerous
Will Queens residents get free admission in exchange for them taking over our parkland for days?
I said this over 4 months ago here, KISS may be playing too July 4th !!
It was inside info and shows how "stealth and secretive" Queens politicians operate.
People from Queens can get day passes, the camping spaces and facility will be extra.
I worked on FOH sound for Coachella arts fest and they hire "the best of the best" who will make them lazy city employees look like assholes.
Those park people know this and are AGAINST it knowing Coachella and Burning Man's professional planning, technical, security and cleanup crews will come in and make them look like complete incompetent assholes.
I know these matters and it will be the best thing to happen to that area since 1964 IMHO
To add my comment does not include that big nasty gorilla AEG is passing this off as a "Coachella like festival" Now that's BULLSHIT and fraud in my opinion, Katz needs to meet with actual Coachella people directly with an good entertainment lawyer.
This big gorilla AEG jumping into the picture is more corrupt and sneaky then some of these politicians !!! It be a greedy disaster and 'working class" Queens residents wont get ANYTHING !! AEG reeks the same big $$, bribery and corruption back when Clear Channel got hold of the Jones beach theater where I was a FOH sound engineer. County executive Thomas Gulotta at the time promised the world on the front page yet that contract actually locked EVERYBODY else out someplace on page 60 of the fine print.
You know these Crowleys and other brain dead aO's in government don't completely read what they sign and you can bet AEG is depending on that Melinda !!
ALLOWING AEG A FOOT IN THE DOOR IN QUEENS WILL BE LIKE INVITING DRACULA INTO YOUR HOME.
I smell lots of snakes, rats and big bags of dirty bag money again:
http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2012/02/dems-still-paying-for-aeg-probe.html
We should ask how many Quinipiac to do a poll after the show. It should be comprehyensive. How many people in Queens actually attended the concert?
The number will be low. lIKE ABYSSMAL AND LOW. The point of all of this of course is more glass towers. Bring in the moneyed classes,the aristrocrat kids. Let them dance around to Arcade Fire, then propose condos to Sitt, Kushner, Zuckerman and the rest.
"See! We're just as good as Greenpoint! We can attract hipsdters too! Now what are you gonna builk?"
I just was fooled by those headlines also.
The people in the back room talks with your politicians are not from Coachella or Burning man arts fests. (those people likely been pushed out by EMG)
The public is once again being lied to and spoon fed shit in a very sneaky 'bait and switch" deal with EMG (including whatever names they are calling themselves this year to pretend)
Look at that headline image then carefully read the wording in that release, what sneaky bastards !! BTW EMGs primary clients are not music and art but nasty rap, hip-hop and garbage. Speaking of crap musical talent: Perhaps the Crowleys are selling Queens down the river so they can sing and strum folk guitar on one of EMGs actual stages with lights. Hmmmm ?
Do not believe the fat man in the suit for he tells lies. And to add, the "other one" is likely a lot of fun at a party on the tour bus floor .
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas Queens
-Gene :)
Crowley's friends with the musicians so now you know the rest of the story.
"will sponsor a clinic with free health, dental and vision services for 1,500 people"
It is standard procedure for all these festivals to have close proximity clinic or a tent of qualified medical professionals on sight from setup to finish. Most all the talent has it written in the contract riders that a doctor be available at all time to "treat" or administer B-12 shots to the players, crews, drivers, loaders, riggers.
This Mr.Crowley's is fulla shit, he didn't negotiate anything special. Music festivals coordinate with local clinics anyway (insurance liability requires it) they always include local community in the days preceding the festival as a dry run for training.
Again: Crowley got the community NOTHING SPECIAL. He clearly doesn't know his ass from his elbow in these matters and should not be negotiating in the big pond with big sharks. Absolutely NO WAY will this end well without profession guidance familiar with those waters.
Queens is a big enough entity to not need promoters and all these crook middlemen shy-larks like EMG to "make buzz". It should produce one big concert itself with a local sound and lighting company. You pay the bands, promote it yourself and keep the millions (perhaps 10s of millions) of dollars in ticket sales alone to fix the park. Plenty of national and world class headliners and technical crew you can hire direct, especially if you let them keep their merchandise sales (EMG takes around 50% of the merchandise sales from its bands). That's why concert T shirts cost $30 and ticket prices are OUTRAGEOUS !!
CROWLEY WAKE UP AND REALIZE YOU ARE SELLING OUT QUEENS AND THAT PARK FOR A CHEAP SONG __ YOU CAN GET A LOT MORE IF GET OFF YOU ASS AND DO SOME HOMEWORK ON THIS !!!!!
AEG is also Dynamo Soccer and they been getting control of venues to gear up for soccer and this “concert buzz" is just a smokescreen to keep people busy as the real wheels turn.
Scroll down pull open the different windows to view the dozens of LLC divisions AEG operates under. You can also view all venues and parks they have “locked up” with contracts THIS COULD VERY WELL BE STEALTH TACTIC TO BRING IN SOCCER FOLKS !!!
https://www.aegworldwide.apply2jobs.com/ProfInt/index.cfm?fuseaction=mInternal.showSearchInterface
Stop promoting our Boro as a sideshow and let its residents live in peace!
And how much money did they promise to Koo's, etc's. campaigns?
FCMP has been underutilized since the last Worlds Fair. Since rebuilding Epcot Center in Queens is off the table, I support some other use of that empty land other than overpriced, rarely open, single sport, sports stadiums. Acres of useless grass. Nothing for people to do, nothing for wildlife to do. The wildlife has Willow Lake, but Meadow Lake is useless for everyone. A couple years ago they built that Parks Dept swimming pool in FCMP as part of the Olympics bid, that was a start at putting that useless grass to use. I've gone to paid Summerstage concerts before in CP before. Nothing wrong with that setup. Since the sports stadiums think they are too cool to do anything but sports, build something else for people who dont want to watch grown men toss a ball back and forth for a hour like playing with a dog and hit it once every 2 hours.
Post a Comment