Video: state overseer for Atlantic Yards says "I can only imagine people will love to have Sensation in their backyards" (but no response yet on booming bass)

The Sensation EDM (electronic dance music) shows this past Friday and Saturday (Oct. 26 and 27) at the Barclays Center drew an international audience and, going by the six-hour video at bottom from the first show, lasted until 4 am.

The excerpt below, taken from a canned promotional segment taped sometime before the show, includes enthusiastic words from show promoters and, astonishingly, the state official overseeing the Atlantic Yards project.

Arana Hankin's effusiveness contrasts starkly with the inability or unwillingness of Empire State Development, the agency in charge of Atlantic Yards, to protect residents on blocks near the arena from pounding bass inside their homes, a repeat of impacts from the Jay-Z concerts that opened the arena and, by some accounts, even worse.

It strikes me as another example of the Culture of Cheating.

New York as destination

The first video opens with a few words from Sensation creator Duncan Stutterheim, "So I hope now with all our knowledge and experience that this is the perfect timing."

Then comes Live Nation New York President Jason Miller, who says, "One of the great things about New York as the destination for the premier edition is that we're so centrally located that it's as easy for someone to get on a plane from London or Paris or Amsterdam and fly six hours to get to the event, as it is for somebody to come from Los Angeles or San Francisco. So we really become kind of a central hub for others around the globe. So, it makes it cool and unique."



"We have this amazing opportunity to be part of a launch of a brand new facility, the newest, most state-of-the-art arena in the United States, be part of their grand opening and initial rollout of programming, one of the first events," Miller continues. "Once the light bulb went off for everybody, it was like, Of course. And Brooklyn! Let's not forget that it's in Brooklyn."

Dropped into Brooklyn

Brooklyn-born DJ Danny Tenaglia, with his outer-borough accent, then declares, "It's sensational that this is right here, right dropped in the middle of, like, a Brooklyn neighborhood. It's kind of overwhelming, actually. I guess if you would've told me that you were opening up a stadium here, I would've been like, How? How are they going to traffic the people and park the cars and all of that? But they did it."

They did it, of course, with a few side effects unmentioned by the next interviewee, Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project, ESD.

"People will love to have Sensation in their backyards"

"Well, y'know, Brooklyn's a really young, hip, lively community," Hankin states. "We love to party and dance here in Brooklyn, and I can only imagine people will love to have Sensation in their backyards and be able to walk to the arena to party at an amazing event like Sensation. So I'm hopeful that folks will want to come back year after year."

Sure, people who love EDM and are willing to spend $200 and up for a night of partying might love being able to have Sensation "in their backyards." Other people, not so much.

As I stated, I don't think it was wise for Hankin to be promoting arena events. That's doubly true when her agency should be helping make sure arena operations don't boom into neighbors' living rooms.

Nor has her agency nor the arena responded to community concerns, though Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark, between the first and second shows, claimed, "we are looking into it and we take the concerns very seriously."

Most of the show

The video below from the first show starts at 10 pm, after pre-show DJs, and lasted until 4 am. Doors opened at 7 pm. It was a very long night.

Attendees love first U.S. Sensation show; neighbors feel bass in their apartments, just like the Jay-Z show; where are government overseers? (saluting Sensation, actu`lly)

Pic via @dancingastro

"No words needed," tweeted one attendee at last night's first-ever U.S. version of the European dance party Sensation, an event that drew people from around the country and world to the Barclays Center. "What an epic night."

"WEARING ALL WHITE AND IT FEELS SO RIGHT," another tweeted. "you were more than I could have ever asked for," added another.

Feeling Sensation at home

Neighbors near the Barclays Center also considered the concert an extreme experience, but in a different way: they cited bass seeping into their residences, as with the Jay-Z concerts that opened the arena, problems that provoked a belated response from the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and no apparent action.

"Incessant bass from Sensation show from 9pm to time of report at 12:41," reported a resident of South Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, northeast of the arena, on Atlantic Yards Watch.

Another resident, even closer at Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street, cited "continued incessant bass," at 1:42 am.

Here's a report from 1:30 am on South Oxford Street northeast of the arena:

incredibly disturbing dance music that was so loud my noise machine and pillow on my head couldn't block it out. Even more disturbing was the stop/start nature of the noise. I couldn't believe how late this was going on. This was the first event that could be heard in our building, 212 S. Oxford St (at Atlantic.) This building has over 100 kids in it. This cannot be repeated...worse than the 24 hour work permit that we suffered through.

"Loud, wall shaking noise from event at arena" at 1 am, reported another resident of the building. Another report, from 1:30 am on Pacific Street east of the arena:

Bass was worst yet from Sensation show. 311 did take the report and someone from the 88th [sic; surely the 78th Precinct] called at 1:30 to say it was the Arena, and it was really shaking the precinct house, but there was nothing they could do about it. The officer did tell me that there was another show tonight.

Tweeted resident David Bivins:

@TishJames Anything you can do about the deafening noise from Barclays Center would be appreciated. It's after midnight.

The concert ran late, perhaps until 2 am, maybe later. (I'll update this when I learn more.) One arena worker reported a long shift: "I straight up worked 11hrs at #Barclays tonight for #sensation."

Any response likely?

Will there be any response, especially for tonight, the second of two Sensation shows? It's a good bet that the interests of the arena, and its operators, will again trump those of neighbors who didn't choose to live this close to sports facility that gains the benefit of a state zoning override. (Otherwise, sports facilities are banned from being within 200 feet of residential districts.)

At a meeting earlier this month on neighborhood impacts of the Barclays Center, Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project, Empire State Development, brushed off community complaints about the penetrative bass. "I’m confident that the work [DEP has] done was sufficient to date," she declared.

Last night, on the YouTube livestream of the Sensation show, Hankin appeared briefly in a pre-recorded introduction. As I tweeted:

Wow. ESD #AtlanticYards Director Arana Hankin on video promo: "I can only imagine people will love to have Sensation in their backyards" 1/2

She was referring to the accessibility of the show to fans in New York and elsewhere, but it was unwise cheerleading and had an unfortunate double meaning, as it turned out. I followed up:

Not sure ESD #AtlanticYards Director Arana Hankin should be promoting acts at#BarclaysCenter. Too many lingering oversight issues.

That was before I knew how bad the bass would be.

Early this morning, I contacted Derek Lynch of ESD and Terence Kelly of the Barclays Center regarding the noise complaints. (They're supposed to be accessible 24/7.) If/when I get a response, I'll post it.

Is it fixable?

I'm no expert on arena design and acoustics, but it strikes me that there are likely at least four factors at work, not all of them fixable:

1. the arena's placement in/near a residential neighborhood; that can't be changed
2. the arena bowl's below-grade location, which may hasten conductivity of bass; that can't be changed
3. the arena's internal soundproofing; that likely could be changed, but would represent an unanticipated, un-budgeted cost
4. the volume of arena events; that's surely adjustable, but that goes against the arena's business model, since the volume is obviously satisfying to event-goers.

Outside the Barclays Center, partiers on Sixth Avenue before the show, about 8 pm


Excitement under the oculus before the show


Trucks on the pad outside the arena on Dean Street, plus ambulances

Why will Islanders move to Brooklyn? Revenue from luxury suites and premium seats (& TV)

At a press conference two days ago regarding the New York Islanders's planned move in 2015 (or sooner) to Brooklyn, team owner Charles Wang stated that "our goal from the outset was to have the Islanders play in a local, world-class facility that possessed the amenities that our fans deserve. And I'm happy to announce that we've achieved that goal with today's announcement."



Translation: we need to make money from well-heeled fans (and, unmentioned, TV revenues, as Forbes's Tom Van Riper has noted).

It's the same reason the Nets moved from New Jersey. And it again raises questions about why public agencies didn't try to negotiate a better deal, especially when Forest City Ratner got concessions in 2009, while offering nothing in return.

$35 million more

The New York Times's Jeff Z. Klein last night explained one major reason why the Islanders would move from Nassau County to Brooklyn, even though they'd still be tenants: new revenues from those fans.

He wrote:

A. The short answer: $35 million in extra revenue per year. That goes a long way toward wiping out the club’s current operating deficit, estimated at $8 million per year.
The main benefit in this move “is not in the increased revenue the Isles will get from the average fan; it’s in the huge increase they’ll get from selling luxury suites and premium club seats,” said Tony Knopp, chief executive officer of Spotlight TMS, a company that manages corporate tickets at Barclays Center and other sites around the country.
The Coliseum, built in 1972 and barely renovated since, has 31 luxury suites and a relatively small number of high-priced premium seats. Knopp estimates that the suites generate about $3 million a year and the premium seats about $16 million.
Barclays Center, which is far more geographically convenient to corporate customers than the Coliseum, has 104 luxury suites. Knopp estimated that those suites would generate about $21 million for the Islanders, while premium seating would generate an additional $33 million. That comes to $54 million from suites and premium seats — $35 million more per year than what the Islanders generate at the Coliseum.