They are saying “heck no!” to under-regulated techno.
City and state officials need to crack down on pop-up dance parties in residential neighborhoods, say local pols after agencies recently okayed two massive raves they claim would have kept neighbors awake and put revelers at risk on dangerous dance-floors.
The elected officials say they don’t want to be party poopers, but the best way to keep the events safe and fun for everyone is for authorities to scrutinize venues and plans more carefully and talk to neighbors before giving organizers the green light to get down.
“I believe the solution is greater oversight,” said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D–Greenpoint), who is demanding Attorney General Eric Schneiderman conduct an investigation of what he calls the “pop-up party industry” after a promoter nearly threw a Halloween bash for thousands of party people inside a toxic factory in Greenpoint last month. “I believe pop-up parties are great forms of cultural expression and I welcome them. However, I believe that they need to be regulated to ensure the attendees’ safety.”
Both the Department of Buildings and State Liquor Authority gave their respective blessing for the bash inside the old NuHart Plastics factory on Dupont Street — issuing permits just days before the event, Lentol said.
It wasn’t until neighbors found out about the shindig and rang 311 off the hook that the fire department showed up and shut the party down at the 11th hour — ultimately declaring it a fire hazard because it doesn’t have sprinklers.
But Lentol says the agencies never should have approved the rave in the first place — especially given the polluted property is a well-known Superfund cleanup site.
“Organizing a large-scale party of this nature at this location is akin to having a pool party in Newtown Creek,” he said in a letter to the Attorney General. “The thought that over 4,000 people were approved to be in an old industrial building, currently a Superfund site, without a sprinkler system installed, defies all rational judgment.”
Agencies should also consult neighbors before rubber-stamping the dance parties, say pols.
The city recently agreed to rent Crown Heights’ historic Bedford-Union Armory to the two-day Time Warp techno festival — prompting backlash from residents who worried thumping beats and drunk patrons would keep them awake and mess up the neighborhood.
Time Warp eventually agreed to take a jump to the left and move the rave to an industrial area of Sunset Park — where it will take place this weekend — but the fact that the community was not consulted in the first place is the real problem, said spokesman for a local leader.
“It seems there is no formal mechanism for community input whenever one of these events happens at these sites,” said Joseph Yanis, legislative aide to Assemblyman Walter Mosely (D–Fort Greene), who protested the party alongside Assemblywoman Diana Richardson (D–Crown Heights), and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (D–Fort Greene).
Yanis also said the building would have been a dangerous place for a huge gathering — the 112-year-old building was designed for armies, not parties, and a dearth of exits would lead to disaster in the case of a literal disco inferno.
“The armory was never intended to be an actual venue site,” he said.
Mosely says he is now talking to the Commissioner of Citywide Administrative Services — the agency that oversees city-owned properties like the armory — about ways communities can have their two cents on future events and stop parties like Time Warp from really driving them insa-a-ane.
“Going forward, I hope that we can determine how we can avoid a similar situation from ever happening again,” he said.
The Commissioner of CityWide Administrative services declined to comment on whether it would make any changes, however.
The Attorney General’s office also declined to comment.
