Results tagged “greatlawn”

If you were wondering why the crowd at the free Bon Jovi concert in Central Park was numbered at a measly 48,538 people when previous concerts by entertainers like Garth Brooks reportedly drew 750,000, former city parks administrator Doug Blonsky is here to tell you that those old numbers were totally bogus. “You would get in a room with the producer, with a police official, and a person from parks, and someone would say, ‘What does it look like to you?’ The producer would say, ‘I need it to be higher than the last one.’ That’s the kind of science that went into it.” The Times has more on how they come up with the numbers these days.

Incase the news managed to escape you, Jon Bon Jovi came, sang and conquered Central Park over the weekend. Of the over 60K tickets given away to fans, around 50K showed up to the Great Lawn...leaving a reported 150K plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The AP reports, "Major League Baseball, which sponsored the event, said that more than 100 volunteers worked into the next day collecting the recyclables," an effort made in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council -- there's no word yet on how the 13 acres of Kentucky bluegrass fared during the show. And if you weren't rocking, rolling and littering in the crowd on Saturday, some of the show has landed on YouTube.

The eagerly anticipated free Bon Jovi concert attracted an estimated 48,500 people to Central Park yesterday. And were the audience members pumped: People were waiting since Friday for prime seats on the Great Lawn while others settled for arriving many hours before the concert, after having cased the stage set-up ahead of time. The NY Times spoke to one woman who had Jon Bon Jovi's signature tattooed on her back (immortalizing the time he signed her back in 2005) and her friend who gave her daughter the middle name "Jovie."

Aside from the music, this evening's Bon Jovi concert on Central Park's Great Lawn will be different from the regular Metropolitan Opera or NY Philharmonic concert-- primarily because of the things one won't be able to bring into the park. While security is generally laissez-faire towards alcohol and food at the classical music events, today's free show is another story. Ticket holders will not be allowed to bring strollers, umbrellas, alcohol, cameras, backpacks, large bags, coolers, glass or metal containers, recording devices, and, of course, weapons. With people lining up hours before the start of the show to get a good vantage point (gates open at 2 p.m., show begins at 8 p.m.), it should be a long hot day for many. Hope you lucky ones have your sunscreen.

Will the Bon Jovi madness never end? amNewYork reported that the line for the Saturday concert was expected to form last night. Hard core fans want to secure good spots, and not get pushed into the overflow section. As we mentioned earlier this week, only 50K of the 60K will have spots with a view, the rest are sent to a space with no sightline of the stage or their precious Jon Bon -- though they will allegedly be able to hear the Jersey rockers.

It's no surprise that ticket prices for the Bon Jovi concert being held in Central Park this Saturday went from free to $1500 in no time. As we mentioned yesterday, Spitzer had signed a legislation making online scalping legal, and Bloomberg agrees that there's not much that can be done. The mayor declared to the NY Post:

"The scalping is just a way of life. I can't tell you it's not worth that kind of money. It's up to you if you want to spend the money. But whatever the scalping laws are, you're going to have to comply with them."

As the big Bon Jovi concert approaches tickets to the free show are going for as much as $1500/pair, The NY Post reports. The show is going down this Saturday on the Great Lawn in Central Park, and an additional lot of tickets will be released at the Javits Center this Friday (more details at MLB.com). Hardcore fans of Jon Bon who don't get their hands on the freebies will have to lay down some serious cash via online outlets like eBay and Craigslist.

An eBay search at midday yesterday found 267 listings for the sold-out concert, with prices ranging from 99 cents to $1,500 a pair from one especially audacious seller identified as "agttickets."

Yesterday Bon Jovi fanatics rushed to the closest ballparks to pick up their tickets to a free concert on the Great Lawn next weekend. NY1 reports that fans lined up for hours at all four stadiums; the concert is part of the upcoming All-Star Game celebration. One fan declared of JBJ: "Back in the day he was number one and he still is," while others were happy he was doing the show for free and giving back to his other hometown.

Yesterday came the announcement of a free concert that would be held on Central Park's Great Lawn this month featuring Mr. Jon Bon Jersey himself (now a Manhattanite). Today more details about the July 12th show and how to procure your golden tickets are unveiled via Bon Jovi's official website. Essentially, tickets will be made available at every major, and some minor baseball stadiums beginning July 2nd. Starting at 9 a.m. that day Bon Jovi fans will descend upon Yankee, Shea, KeySpan Park and the Staten Island Yankees stadiums...get more details here if you want to be one of them. And note that tickets will also will be available in Manhattan at DHL All-Star FanFest at the Jacob K. Javits Center on Friday, July 11th.

As mentioned earlier this week, last night an unplanned Battle of the Bands took place between the Brooklyn and New York Philharmonics, both playing Central Park with just 30 minutes between their starting times. Who won? The above photo of the Brooklyn Philharmonic was taken at 8:10 p.m., about 40 minutes after they went on. The below photo of the New York Philharmonic was taken at 9:05 p.m., about 55 minutes after they went on.

The Parks Dept. decided to throw in the towel on litigation that's been going on for three years and conceded to reevaluate its requirement that no more than 50,000 people could gather on Central Park's Great Lawn at one time.

There's been a lot of ink, virtual and otherwise, already spilled on Governors Island. But today, NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff proclaimed that the new site "could well become the most inspired public park built here in generations." He also said the plan is "humble in scale but big on ambition."

Two men walking along the East 79th transverse near Fifth Avenue were robbed at gunpoint by four men around 7:15PM on Wednesday night. The victims, ages 34 and 38, gave up their wallets and a cellphone for the robbers, who are described as young "black males between 18 and 20" years old" who "fled in the direction of the Great Lawn." The 34-year-old victim spoke to the Daily News and explained he and his partner...

The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation is having a public meeting tonight to share the five designs for the island so far. The designers will be presenting and the public can offer feedback. The meeting is at 6:30PM at FIT (Reeves Great Hall, 28th Street and 7th Avenue), and you can see the designs here and wonder if you agree with what the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff thought about them, as he offered his opinion in today's paper.

In the summer of 2004, various groups were upset that the city was prohibiting them from protesting and rallying on Central Park's Great Lawn. The city argued that the Great Lawn would be damaged and there's not enough money to clean up after protests; concerts events usually had corporate backers who paid for clean up. The protesters argued they were entitled to expressing themselves where they like. And in 2004, a judge ruled for the city, saying that the city could bar protest groups (especially since they waited too long to file the lawsuit) and suggested that protesters go to Van Cortlandt or Flushing-Meadows Parks instead.

The Central Park Conservancy, the private, non-profit organization that manages the park, let us know about some new signs that will be appearing soon. It's a call to action for park goers to help out: Fifteen signs are being installed with "before" photographs showing how far the park has come since the 1970s and 1980s, with the words "What would we do without your donations?" on them. This is a rendering of the sign that'll go in front of the Belvedere Castle, which certainly doesn't look like that anymore.

THEATER: Both the Fringe Festival and the wildly successful, but once Fringe-y, 24 Hour Plays are celebrating their tenth anniversaries this year, so why not do it together? Starting tonight, some of the original cast members and plays from the series that proved that a gimmick (conceive, write, rehearse and perform a play in a day) can produce fresh theatre, reunite in five totally different sets of five. - Mallory Jensen

Nice: Court papers have been released showing how the city successfully blocked protests in Central Park, most notably protests during the Republican Convention. You might remember from two years ago that the some of the city's excuses for not having the protests on the Great Lawn were to protect the lawn (which had been renovated) and that the police might not be able to secure the lawn. But it turns out everyone's conspiracy theories were true: It seems that some police officials actually supported havng rallies at the lawn and that the city just wanted to tamp down politicial rallies during the convention and so close to Bloomberg's re-election. Last week, the NY Sun raised the issue in a story about a John Lennon tribute concert being rejected by the Parks Department, and today the NY Times looks at court papers; both papers find that the mayor was more involved with the permit-blocking that he previously admitted and that the Parks Department did everything possible to prevent events at the Great Lawn. From the NY Sun:

An e-mail from the Parks and Recreation Department's head marketing officer, Elizabeth Smith, said, "This [music of John Lennon] event does look great but we had to admit that it was going to be difficult, right after all our problems with the rally requests for the park, and right before Mike's re-election (this is for Oct 05) that this is likely to happen on the Great Lawn."

Continue reading "How the City Blocked Protests in Central Park"

READINGS: Sebastian Junger (co-owner of the Half King) will be reading there tonight from his latest book, A Death in Belmont. The book ties into Junger's own life eerily - back in 1963 when Junger was a small boy growing up in Belmont, Massachusetts, Bessie Goldberg was murdered down the street from his home. Following the stories of the two different men suspected of committing the crime (and one of them working at Junger's family home the very day of the murder), Junger brings his inquisitive eye to the story, and its unsolved ending. Junger is a fascinating writer and the Half King is fast becoming one of the city's best reading venues, so it should be a great night. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras

The Parks Department's - and City's - decision to attempt to limit the number of large gatherings, aka rallies, held in Central Park is prompting a rally this Thursday on the Great Lawn, the night before the Parks Department holds a public hearing about the bill. The bill would limit the number of gatherings of over 50,000 to six per year, with four of them already slated for classical music events. Opposition groups claim that the Great Lawn has handled large protests and concerts in the past, but the Parks Department's argument is that they are trying to protect the Great Lawn's condition from the tramping, inconsiderate feet of protestors who don't have corporate backing to clean up and repair the lawn (large concerts have been allowed because the concert promoters have agreed to pay the Parks Department money to make sure the lawn is cared for). Gothamist wonders if there are any deep-pocketed billionaires who would sponsor rallies in Central Park. Anyway, opposition groups are threatening legal actions if the number of rallies are limited, while the Parks Department continues to threaten to charge taxpayers with the expense of maintain the beauty of the lawn.

There were hints that protesters may still head to Central Park; Police Commissioner Kelly noted that and gave more nuance to the city's position:

"People have a right to go to the park, and if people go to the park, we'll have the sufficient police presence there to make sure people remain orderly. The park is open. It's open to all New Yorkers. You need a permit to have a sound device in the park. You need a permit to have a march on city streets. I believe that they'll adhere to the law."

The NYPD is turning Pier 57, at 11th Avenue and 15th Street, into a holding pen for protesters they detain, according to the Post, which says "unruly protesters at the Republican National Convention will get breathtaking views of the Hudson River." Heh. From this holding pen, detained protesters will be bussed to Central Booking on Centre Street where they will be "processed." If anyone does get processed, let us know how it goes and whether it's anything like Bovine University type processing.

Here's the text of the ruling (PDF) and a schedule of some protests happening. The two protest groups, National Council of Arab Americans and Act Now Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER), would have had 75,000 total protesters; the big kahuna, United for Peace and Justice, with an estimated 250,000 protesters, will hear the judge's decision about their suit to protest on the Great Lawn today. Also, more about Kentucky bluegrass, the kind of grass in the Great Lawn, and Gothamist's previous Great Lawn posts.

New York City Welcomes Peaceful Political Activists. Gothamist suspects political activists would be happy and more apt to be peaceful if they got some space closer to Penn Station or at the Great Lawn.

- Robots are also helping out at the Convention, and they don't seem to be the evil I, Robot or HAL 2000 kind: The Coast Guard will be using new sonar to scan for suspicious activity underwater. Underwater - man, a new place to worry about.

Chambers Street.Not quite a major victory, but they do have a place to protest. And Gothamist does agree with commenters that greg.org's protest idea is powerful.

The suggestion from reader Michelle a while back about moving the protest to Times Square sounds better AND it's closer to Penn Station (though Gothamist can understand the protestors wanting an open expanse of space, for a sense of scale). We heard that UPJ rejected 50th Street and the West Side Highway. Where else is there for them to line up? Bryant Park is too small and too pretty...what about a special barge in the river? It's not that far out and would be kind of a great spectacle.

When is the Philharmonic holding their annual park concerts? Shouldn't that be happening soon?

Jessica Mintz, Wall Street Journal