NY City Council Saves Concerts As Court Enjoins Them For Being Too Close To Synagogues

The New York Post and the Brooklyn Eagle report that a Brooklyn court yesterday issued a temporary injunction against the long-running summer concert series in Coney Island's Asser Levy Park. Two synagogues sued, claiming that the concerts violate a city ban against amplified sound within 500 feet of religious institutions, schools, courthouses and other gathering places when they are in session. The suit is part of a broader effort to stop development of a $64 million amphitheater project for the park. (See prior posting.) However City Council this week took action to save the summer concert series. It passed a law, which the mayor intends to sign, creating a 90-day pilot program under which amphitheaters, open air band shells and stadiums the right to get permits for concerts even if they are in violation of the 500-foot rule. The bill expires in 90 days, but drafters hope that a permanent solution will be worked out by then.