The 2025 summer concert season at Forest Hills Stadium is in limbo after the NYPD declined to issue sound amplification permits, citing a dispute over access to private streets surrounding the venue—though stadium officials insist the shows will go on as planned.
The decision, announced in a letter of notice by the NYPD Legal Bureau on Wednesday, March 19, comes after a years-long legal dispute between local residents group Forest Hills Garden Corps (FHGC) and West Side Tennis Club (WSTC), which operates and leases the iconic venue, and Tiebreaker Productions, which operates events at the venue.
FHGC has now denied the city access to a series of private roads surrounding the venue, leading the NYPD to decline any sound amplification permits for the upcoming summer concert series.
NYPD Inspector William Gallagher appeared to communicate the decision to WSTC in the March 19 letter, stating that the police cannot issue sound amplification permits without FHGC’s permission to close the privately owned streets surrounding the stadium.
“FHGC has notified the NYPD’s 112th Precinct that it has ceased to issuing licenses to the West Side Tennis Club and its agents to enter and use the private property surrounding the Stadium,” Gallagher wrote in the letter. “Thus, the NYPD is not permitted to close the privately-owned streets adjacent to the Stadium for ingress and egress of concertgoers, entertainers, staff and equipment for the upcoming concert season.”
Gallagher also wrote that he hopes that FHGC and WSTC can “come together” and reach a solution so that the NYPD can resume issuing sound amplification permits for the venue.
FHGC said it is “grateful” to the NYPD for the decision, adding that the organization’s board is “united” in its desire to “resolve this situation so that concerts can proceed in a manner that respects the rights, safety, and well-being of the community.”
“We sincerely thank the NYPD and city officials for their continued support, diligence, and this important letter,” FHGC President Anthony Orprisiu said in a statement. “We also extend our gratitude to the elected officials, community leaders, volunteers, and residents who have helped us reach this point. We remain committed to working with all stakeholders to find a balanced solution that addresses concert impacts while respecting our community.”
However, WSTC officials stated that they have not yet received any communication from the NYPD regarding its decision to deny sound amplification permits for the 2025 season, slated to begin on May 31. They also accused FHGC of being a vocal minority of NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) residents attempting to roadblock a popular music series.
Akiva Shapiro, an attorney representing WSTC, described reports that the NYPD had declined sound amplification permits for the venue as “unfounded rumors” and said WSTC views the reports as “extremely troubling.”
“Just last month, Mayor Adams personally tweeted his support for the Stadium as a thriving cultural hub and a significant economic engine in Queens. Neither the Stadium’s owner nor operator have received any communication from the NYPD concerning sound permits, which have always been granted to the Stadium upon request, including as recently as this past October,” Shapiro said in a statement.
“Because nothing has changed in the last five months, because the NYPD has not raised any concerns with the Stadium directly, and because the City would risk significant liability if it were to abruptly shut the Stadium down, we can only assume that no such final decision has been made.”
Shapiro, however, said WSTC is demanding answers from the “highest levels” of the Adams Administration following the recent reports.
In a separate statement on the Forest Hills Stadium Instagram account, officials stated that the 2025 summer season will go ahead as scheduled.
“Forest Hills Stadium is moving forward with our 2025 concert schedule as planned and our permitting timeline is on its standard schedule,” the statement read. “As happens every season, the vocal NIMBY minority of Forest Hills Gardens are attempting to roadblock yet another enjoyable season of music.”
The March 19 letter marks the latest in a series of legal battles between FHGC and WSTC, stemming from an initial lawsuit filed in May 2023.
FHGC filed a preliminary injunction against WSTC last December due to the “harms caused” by the yearly concert series at the stadium, aiming to immediately prohibit WSTC from licensing, authorizing or allowing any concerts to take place at the stadium. The homeowners’ group had previously sought to prohibit WSTC from holding any concerts during the school year or on weeknights—as well as any concerts that exceed noise level standards set out in the city’s Noise Code.
On Nov. 14 last year, lawyers representing FHGC penned a letter to Michael Gerber, deputy commissioner of legal matters at the NYPD, threatening legal action if the NYPD continues to issue sound amplification permits for the 2025 concert season and implement a program to close private streets on event days.
FHGC alleged that the NYPD’s actions over the past two years have been “unlawful,” stating that the issuance of sound amplification permits undermines the purpose of New York City’s Administrative Code, which seeks to “prevent any activity that ‘disturbs the public peace.”
The letter further contended that FHGC did not issue a license to the West Side Tennis Club, Tiebreaker or the NYPD to close the streets surrounding the stadium for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Lawyers representing FHGC wrote that the homeowners association owns the streets surrounding the stadium, giving it the power to issue licenses for street closures.
Shapiro reacted at the time by describing FHGC’s letter as “false and defamatory.”
“The Club and Tiebreaker deeply regret that FHGC is now dragging the NYPD into this morass through FHGC’s threats of further litigation against the NYPD; strongly object to FHGC’s preposterous claims that any of the NYPD’s actions to date have been ‘unlawful,” Shapiro wrote in a letter to Gerber.
In October, Queens County Supreme Court Judge Joseph J. Esposito dismissed five of seven claims brought against West Side Tennis Club and Tiebreaker by FHGC, including claims of trespassing and zoning violations. However, Esposito did not dismiss claims of public and private nuisance.
FHGC argued in the lawsuit that the quality of life in the area surrounding the stadium has deteriorated as the number of concerts at the venue has increased in recent years, alleging that some intoxicated concertgoers have entered the vestibules of their apartment buildings and left trash or bodily fluids.
FHGC also stated that a number of streets and sidewalks are closed when events are taking place at the venue.
However, Esposito noted that the Club works with the NYPD, MTA and LIRR to ensure events at Forest Hills Stadium are minimally disruptive to the local community. He noted that closures are enforced by the NYPD, directives that neither the Club nor FHGC can override.
Esposito also encouraged both parties to continue working with the NYPD to ensure that concertgoers do not stray from designated routes and venture into residential areas.
FHGC initially filed lawsuits against WSTC in May 2023, leading WSTC and Tiebreaker to implement numerous sound mitigation materials throughout the entire stadium for the 2024 season. Officials representing WSTC stated that the organization had spent $250,000 for the 2024 season alone, adding that they were keen to “plug every hole.”
John Kelly, a representative of WSTC, said Monday that it is “extremely frustrating” to continue to run up against opposition from the local community despite the fact that the club has worked hard to ensure that concerts are minimally disruptive.
“The club was designed 100 years for this very purpose (to host events),” Kelly said. “So to keep running up against the same issue when we’ve done everything we can to be cooperative and collaborative, it’s extremely frustrating.”
WSTC had already booked 13 concerts for the upcoming summer season, including performances by the Black Keys and Alabama Shakes. The venue hosted a record-breaking 37 events across its 2024 summer series.
