By Scott Etkin
On September 28, the Global Citizen Festival — an annual concert to support people in need — will return to Central Park, making 2024 the 12th year the concert will be performed on the Great Lawn, skipping only 2020, because of COVID.
The announcement of the show’s headliners – including Post Malone, Doja Cat, Jelly Roll, LISA, and Rauw Alejandro, along with hosts Hugh Jackman and Dr. Jane Goodall – will pique interest for some. But perhaps more Upper West Siders will be focused on what impact the concert might have on the Great Lawn itself.
Last year, the Great Lawn was damaged when Tropical Storm Ophelia blew through the city on the day of the concert, September 23, drenching concertgoers with heavy rain and causing the grass to turn to mud. As a result, Central Park closed the Great Lawn for the winter about two months earlier than normal. The Great Lawn is typically closed from mid-to-late November through April. This year it re-opened in April on schedule following $622,000 in repairs, which were funded by the Central Park Conservancy and then reimbursed in full by Global Citizen.
If there is any damage again this year, Global Citizen is expected to foot the bill. “As with every year, Global Citizen event organizers will follow all permitting protocols and are responsible for all costs associated with any damages,” a representative from the New York City Parks Department wrote to West Side Rag. “The City has had a positive relationship with the Global Citizen Festival producers for over a decade, and we are confident in their commitment to both minimize and remedy any impact on the lawn in the future.”
The Global Citizen Festival, which started in 2012, has almost always been held in mid- or late-September. It is timed to roughly coincide with when the UN General Assembly is in New York, which takes place this year from September 10th to 24th. The concert’s theme is to “Defeat Poverty, Defend the Planet and Demand Equity.”
There is a long history of concerts being held on the Great Lawn. The New York Philharmonic has performed there annually since the 1960s. Elton John, Dave Matthews Band, and Bon Jovi are among the past performers, along with Simon & Garfunkel, whose 1981 concert drew 500,000 spectators.
Approximately 60,000 people attend the Global Citizen Festival in the Park each year. “Our public greenspaces are where New Yorkers gather for connection, celebration, and release, and that proud tradition continues as we welcome Global Citizen back to Central Park this September!” NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue said in a press release announcing this year’s event.
While everyone will be hoping for a cloudless day, there’s a decent chance that rain will return. Hurricane season usually runs from June 1st to November 30th, with most storms developing between mid-August and mid-October, The New York Times recently wrote. This year, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an 85% chance of a more active than normal season.
“Every large event causes some impact on the site regardless of whether it is in Central Park, Flushing Meadows, or any of our parks that host large events of this kind,” the Parks representative wrote. “Parks works very hard with producers to minimize such impacts, and to ensure they remain responsible for the cost of damages incurred.”
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It isn’t OK to just pay for whatever damage you cause to Central Park. You have to not cause the damage in the first place.
The big points:
The Great Lawn was unusable for quite some time.
We have climate change with stunning effects on all weather occurrences.
About 6 weeks, I believe.
It’s not enough to pay for the damage–is Global Citizen going to compensate New Yorkers who were unable to use the Great Lawn for months??? And, by the way, Global Citizen raises millions and gives next to nothing to NYC organizations.
How much did those New Yorkers pay to use the Great Lawn?
We pay 3.9% of every pay check to the City. We lose a communal space 2 months early for a festival that can easily be held outside NYC Parks at the hundreds of concert venues in this city. Money raised through the Festival rarely benefit organizations serving NYC communities. It is the bare minimum to cover the financial burden of the Festival – it does not account for the lost green space and communal gatherings.
We pay tens of billions in taxes every year. Who do you think pays taxes to NYC?
The jokes just write themselves.
These comments, yikes. Major entitlement! Also, compensation?? LOL There are other parts to enjoy no different than when maintenance/ care is being done
Very simple solution – if a big storm is forecasted for the day of the concert, cancel the concert. Doesn’t seem that complicated.
In my opinion, global citizens is just another charity scam, supporting its professional staff and great style. Meanwhile, the citizens of New York lose their park every year for 10 days it is wrong and it continues and nobody does anything about it.
Sue you are 100 per cent right.
Agreed. I think there are metrics for charities about what % of their money goes to overhead and fundraising compared to what % actually goes to the cause. I’m guessing they do not score very well on this. Plus, as you noted, they inconvenience countless New Yorkers.
You can check out it’s ratings on Charity Navigator. It has a 3 out of 4 star rating or 89% out of 100% rating. It has a higher Culture and Community rating than it’s Accountability and Finance rating, but the latter is still rated fairly high. .Its a 501 (C) (3) non profit headquartered at 740 Broadway. Anyway interested can probably get an annual report by calling them at: 347-782-5121. It would be interesting to know what percentage of the festival’s earnings go to charity. .
Does this strike any one else as hard to understand? Half a million decend on central park, create congestion, consume everything in site and say they are doing good?
This event puts fences up all over the park that cuts off large parts to New Yorkers for 2 days or more over a weekend . The philharmonic gives free concerts. Hardly equivalent
Shame on Hugh Jackman for participating in this scam!
Note to self: Book a ticket to anywhere for weekend of 28 September.
They should be charged a huge fee
Is the city capable of saying “no” anymore? Talk about the definition of insanity.
Lousy idea! I volunteer in Central Park, around the area of the Great Lawn, and over the years the damage they do is terrible. We all were hoping after the last one that it would be moved to another location.
It’s not about paying for the damages to the Great Lawn. It’s –is Global Citizen going to compensate and inconvenience to all the New Yorkers who were unable to use the Great Lawn for months???
Global Citizen raises millions and gives nothing to NYC !
And not to mention, the talent they have entertaining are the worst! 👎
They could not just cancel and reschedule if the weather is bad as the artists are under contract for that particular day and time. As a rental, they pay a substantial fee to the Central Park conservancy which keeps the park open, and beautiful for us to use for free!
You have GOT to be kidding me
The name “Global Citizen” is pretty ironic. Anyone living up to that name would not return to cause more potential damage to our precious green space – especially in the midst a climate crisis. How blindly ignorant and destructive. So, they are raising funds to potentially lose funds repairing the damage they do raising funds. What?! Unethical and a bad business model.
You got to be kidding me!
For what they did to our beautiful Great Lawn and the inconvenience that they put us New Yorkers through…
I of my family could not use the Great Lawn for months after the damage and disrepair was done !
And all that noise they make the untalented entertainment you hear blasting all day before and the day-of into the night!
They are so annoying!
I would not give any kind of donation to them!
NO❗️ NO❗️ NO❗️ NO❗️
The Central Park Conservancy doesn’t have any common sense if they let do this!
NO❗️ NO❗️ NO❗️ NO❗️
Just how much of the “earnings” are given to charities, and which charities? Shouldn’t they be accountable as to total revenue and how it is distributed by the NYC Comptrollers department since the event is held in NYC ? This information should be made public .
In addition they should be charged a fee to cover not only any damage, but the loss of use by the public, both during the event and the amount of days needed to repair any damage.
No way.
I’m sick and tired of them in my neighborhood.
Why don’t they use Madison Square Garden? That’s what it’s there for..
If they have to do it outside, go to Randalls Island.
But stay out of my backyard.
There’s no logic about this with them how persistent they are a must doing it Central Park.
Leave the park alone and leave us alone.
We don’t want you here.!
Global Citizens is a big scam right from the gecko!
To grasp the fundamental unseriousness of self-styled climate saviors, look to the catastrophic damage the Global Citizen Festival unleashed on Central Park.
Tens of thousands of concertgoers, in the name of saving the planet and the poor people on it, utterly destroyed the Great Lawn.
That means, the park just confirmed, a big chunk of New York’s marquee free public space — the anchor of a densely packed, backyard-deprived borough — will be off-limits to millions of visitors for the fall season, nearly two months ahead of the normal winter closure.
For more than a decade, Global Citizen has been annoying those of us who use the park as our backyard.
Every year since 2012, just as the weather cools down, Global Citizen takes over the middle chunk of our park.
The Global Citizen concertfest is timed for United Nations General Assembly week. So during what is often the nicest-weather weekend of the year, in late September, the lawn is closed to all the public.
But it’s not just that: All week, parkgoers must navigate miles of metal gates, dozens of smelly equipment trucks and, on fest weekend, hundreds upon hundreds of parked or idling motor vehicles, vehicles that entirely take over the bridle path circling the reservoir.
The point of turning Central Park into an open-air, exhaust-spewing, truck-unloading dock and black-SUV-idling lot for days on end, of course, is to “defeat poverty, demand equity and defend the planet.”
We don’t want you Global Citizens in our neighborhood!
It’s time to fight back and get rid of them.
It’s worth it. Last year was bad luck. Concerts are good for humanity and therefore good for the people of our city including us in the neighborhood. Tens of thousands having maybe the best night of their year in our beloved park. Love it.