These longtime New Yorkers aren’t letting their concerns over late night partying fall on death ears.
Roughly 20 Brooklyn and Queens residents gathered at a town hall Wednesday to air out grievances about noise and crowding stemming from loud music performances at the Under the K Bridge Park — a new outdoor venue under the Kosciuszko Bridge.
“They have events that go on here until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, they’re extremely loud – with windows closed, TV on, you hear it over that,” said Greenpoint resident Rich, 46, a high school teacher who lives on Apollo Street a block away from the venue.
“When I emailed them to say why are they allowing this? They answered, ‘well, they filed the proper permits.’”
Rich’s wife’s family has been living in Greenpoint for over 100 years, he said – but they’re considering moving because of their new neighbors.
“The house I grew up in, the house that we have, my great great grandmother bought in 1911,” his wife Trish, 46, told The Post about the home where the couple lives with their 2-year-old son and Trish’s mom Gin, 77.
“My grandmother was born in what is our kitchen now,” she added, “and we’re thinking about moving because this has gotten so uncomfortable.”
The once-abandoned lot between the boroughs, now operated as a park by the non-profit North Brooklyn Parks Alliance and funded in part by the city, opened in 2021 and has since held 8,000-person events like June’s LadyLand outdoor music festival – which drew the likes of Madonna.
Other marquee events include the Summer of Love festival series, spearheaded by Bushwick nightclub House of Yes.
Over 64,000 attendees came to Under the K Bridge Park events in 2023 alone, park officials said – with even “larger events happening in the fall.”
The big ticket events – while “critical” for revenue to the park, officials said – have drawn the ire of neighbors, some of whom report booming concert noise heard from inside apartments, some as far as Long Island City and Maspeth.
“It’s not only the music itself … it’s the hundreds, or thousands of people,” said Matt, 47, who lives on the same street as Rich and teaches at the same high school.
“There is no public transportation out here at night, so they all call Ubers and Lyfts … and all you hear is honk honk honk all night.”
Lucy, who is originally from Poland but has lived in Greenpoint for over 30 years, told The Post she can hear the events from her home blocks away on Nassau Avenue.
“My question is, why it is allowed until 4 a.m. if other places have to shut down by 10 p.m.?” she told the crowd at the town hall.
Katie Denny Horowitz, who is the executive director of the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance, told The Post the majority of events at Under the K end by 10 p.m., and never as late as 4 a.m.
“If a neighbor is hearing music at 4 a.m., it is absolutely not emanating from an event at Under the K Bridge Park,” she maintained.
A review of past events at the park posted to Resident Advisor showed shows ending as late as 3 a.m.
“I don’t understand how an event outdoors can be allowed to go until 2 o’clock in the morning, especially when it’s so close to residential,” Rich added at the town hall.
“There are a lot of children in this neighborhood and it’s very frustrating.”
During elected officials’ remarks at the town hall, Council Member Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) said the non-profit is looking to “address these issues” and “find solutions around sound testing and crowd control.”
Horowitz said the group tries to “mitigate the sound as much as possible,” including by changing the direction of the speakers.
North Brooklyn Park Alliance officials said Wednesday that they set up a hotline for neighbors to call when the music gets too loud.
During events, the organization also monitors sound levels in about 20 locations within a half mile radius.
The Berry Street Alliance, representing parts of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, has dubbed Under the K a “site of massive noise pollution” — and the group that runs it “an entertainment nonprofit branding as environmental,” according to an X post.
“NBKParks creates massive car traffic and keep [sic] neighbors up till 4 a.m. with their concerts which generate money for them,” the Berry Street Alliance wrote.
North Brooklyn Parks Alliance’s biggest funder is the City Parks Foundation, allocating $96,900 to the organization in 2022, according to nonprofit watchdog tool CauseIQ.
Not all residents have taken up issue with the park, which also features a bike path, green space and skate park during the day.
Kevin, 33, told The Post at Wednesday’s town hall that most of the time, Under the K is occupied by “folks enjoying skateboarding, folks enjoying a walk by the water.”
To him, the revenue from the concerts going toward park improvements makes all the difference.
“The question here is, there are concerts all over the city in venues where the money is going to private pockets,” he said.
“I mean, that money just goes to investors. It goes overseas … The big difference here is that you got some big concerts going on but the money is going back into the neighborhood.”
