By Forum Staff
Following a series of recent permitting decisions that have cast doubt over this year’s concert series at Forest Hills Stadium, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. penned a letter to Mayor Eric Adams on Friday, calling on his administration to do all it can to ensure the 2025 series continues uninterrupted.
“Forest Hills Stadium is a unique cultural destination that annually draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world, with its operation providing immense local economic benefits to surrounding businesses, creating hundreds of good-paying union jobs and generating critical tax revenues,” Richards wrote. “To expect the stadium to cancel their operations, for an indeterminate period of time, and with no clear resolution in sight, would be financially devastating for the concert promotion team, the stadium’s hundreds of employees, the countless patrons who made travel plans to see a show and the artists scheduled to perform.
“To expect the stadium to cancel their operations, for an indeterminate period of time, and with no clear resolution in sight, would be financially devastating for the concert promotion team, the stadium’s hundreds of mostly unionized employees, the countless patrons who made travel plans to see a show and the artists scheduled to perform. But most of all, such a cancellation would economically devastate many nearby restaurants, bars, shops and other establishments who see a surge in patronage on days when events are scheduled at the stadium,” Richards added. “The loss of that revenue would undoubtedly put those businesses and the employment of their workers at risk.”
A vocal supporter of Forest Hills Stadium — which was named the best amphitheater on the East Coast by Billboard last month —Richards has repeatedly partnered with and applauded the stadium’s promoters regarding efforts like soundproofing the historic venue and examining the number of concerts it hosts.
While recognizing that living near a major concert venue undoubtedly creates potential challenges, Richards has called on — and continues to call on — the small number of frustrated residents who have brought legal challenges against the stadium to negotiate in good faith with its promotion team.
“To allow a minute number of frustrated individuals — representing a small fraction of the local community’s population — to shutter one of New York City’s most iconic and economically vital concert venues, simply by threatening legal action against the City, would be shortsighted and destructive.” Richards wrote. “The wider Forest Hills community as a whole has been almost universally supportive of the stadium, as seen through last year’s petition created by venue’s promoters. Of the 25,000 signatures received in support of the stadium, a whopping 76 percent hail from the zip codes 11375, 11418, and 11415.”
Originally opened in 1923, the historic stadium was the original home of the U.S. Open professional tournament until its move to Flushing Meadows Corona Park until 1977. The venue has also drawn many of music’s most iconic and popular acts to Queens — The Beatles, Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, The Who, Bob Dylan, Drake, Van Morrison, Ed Sheeran, Tom Petty and Queens’ own LL Cool J and Simon & Garfunkel have all played to capacity crowds there — while generating significant economic benefits for many of Forest Hills’ small businesses near the stadium.
