A Forest Hills homeowners’ association is taking the city to court, claiming the NYPD has illegally commandeered its private streets during events at the neighborhood’s namesake concert venue.
The Forest Hills Gardens Corporation (FHGC), which represents homeowners in the historic Queens community, filed the federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Monday.
What You Need To Know
The Forest Hills Gardens Corporation has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city and the NYPD of unlawfully using private streets for concert access to Forest Hills Stadium
The suit focuses on the 2023 and 2024 concert seasons, alleging police erected barricades and funneled crowds through private streets despite the group revoking all licenses in 2022
The group argues the city’s actions amount to an unconstitutional taking of private property and is seeking compensation for homeowners
In a press release, FHGC said the city and the NYPD “unlawfully seized the community’s private streets and sidewalks to funnel tens of thousands of concertgoers to Forest Hills Stadium — without consent or compensation.”
“For several years, the City has illegally seized FHGC’s private streets, even after acknowledging that they are privately owned and off-limits,” attorney Katherine Rosenfeld said in a statement. “By shutting down FHGC’s streets and funneling thousands of concertgoers through the community without its consent, the City has carried out a long-running unlawful taking — siding with a billion-dollar concert enterprise over the rights of local residents.”
The release says FHGC terminated all licenses that allowed for “concert-related use” of its streets in 2022, citing disruptions from crowds and noise.
But according to the lawsuit, NYPD officers continued to barricade and close the private roads during the 2023 and 2024 concert seasons, directing concertgoers through the Gardens’ streets to reach the stadium. Those closures, the group alleges, blocked residents “from being able to fully access, use, and enjoy their property.”
“The City has compelled and authorized this constantly recurring physical invasion of tens of thousands of strangers onto Plaintiff’s private streets even though the Stadium is accessible entirely via public streets, and without providing any compensation to Plaintiff, much less just compensation,” the complaint said.
Noise violations have also been issued to the stadium, including three during the “All Things Go” festival held from Sept. 26 to Sept. 28, according to the release.
“Our private streets are not a shortcut for a commercial concert business,” FHGC board president Anthony Oprisiu said in a statement. “For over a century, Forest Hills Gardens has been a carefully stewarded residential community. The City cannot trample the rights of more than 4,000 residents and commandeer our property without consent or compensation.”
A spokesperson for the city’s Law Department on Tuesday said the case is under review.