Change was in the air following one woman's account of nitrous-fueled zombie hippies taking over her block after a Widespread Panic concert on the Williamsburg waterfront this summer. Last night a Community Board meeting was held to address the location, and it seems the Open Space Alliance (who host the concerts) and CB1 have come to an agreement: future events will be held a couple of blocks away, at a vacant lot on Kent and North 11th Street.
According to the Brooklyn Paper, the OSA told those in attendance last night, “We think this is a better site, has a better impact on residents, and it uses an underutilized property." But will such a short move make a difference at all? Susan Fensten (the woman who wrote the open letter about her experience with the Widespread Panic fans), says, “They’re still going to have to funnel upwards of 6,000 people into the neighborhood—that doesn’t seem manageable. And we’re still going to be able to hear it. The era of quiet nights on the waterfront is over.”
For their part, the OSA has already tried to compromise by reducing capacity and rerouting exits—plus, out of the 8,760 hours in the year, how many hours of this are the residents actually dealing with? 60?
Comments on the new concert venue will be heard at the next Community Board meeting, at the Swinging Sixties Senior Center (211 Ainslie Street in Williamsburg) on October 20th at 6:30 p.m.
