New Forest Hills Gardens regime settles federal lawsuit with city
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Forest Hills Gardens residents settled a lawsuit against the city for taking control of its streets when Forest Hills Stadium hosts concerts. File photo via lawsuit
By Ryan Schwach
The Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, which represents homeowners in the historic Queens neighborhood, has settled a lawsuit it brought last year against the city over how the NYPD polices the area during events at Forest Hills Stadium.
Reached with the city on March 16, the settlement requires the city to pay only $150,000 to the FHGC, which owns the land the stadium sits on. The settlement also requires the police to work more with locals while patrolling the area around the stadium, which FHGC has separately sued multiple times over the past several years.
The settlement marks a substantial shift in the relationship between the stadium and its neighbors, who have been in constant litigation with the venue and its operator, the West Side Tennis Club, over claims that noise from concerts at the stadium violates city rules and that it fails to control the crowds that descend on the private community dozens of times a year.
However, FHGC’s new board, who were elected overwhelmingly in December, ran almost entirely on their intentions to put an end to the lawsuits.
The federal suit against the city is the first to go.
The settlement will require the city to make the paltry $150,000 payment.
It will also require the local 112th Precinct to consult with the FHGC board about security arrangements on FHGC’s property regarding street closures, resident access and rideshare pickup areas. The NYPD will maintain the final say over security decisions, according to the settlement.
The suit was first brought in October 2025, and argued that the city’s closure and use of the neighborhood’s private streets to manage concert crowds infringed on homeowners’ right to access and use their property as they saw fit.
“Each time the City closes FHGC’s private streets and directs 13,000 people to physically invade its property to access concerts at the Forest Hills Stadium, FHGC’s members’ lives are dramatically disrupted,” the lawsuit read. “Residents cannot access their homes, concertgoers engage in public alcohol consumption and substance use, public urination, and littering on FHGC’s property and overpowering noise seeps into neighborhood homes from the open-air concerts, resulting in chronic violations of the City’s noise code.”
But members of the newly elected board did not consider the issues to be as severe as their predecessors thought. In general, they believed the stadium was a community benefit and not the nuisance the previous board had made it out to be. Above all, they were sick and tired of paying legal fees.
“The largest growing concern beyond everything else, is the spending on legal fees currently, which is approaching a million dollars of the community budget at this point,” said JP Evangelista, a leader of the insurgency that defeated the old board, told the Eagle last year.
Members of the new board told the Eagle they could not comment on specifics regarding the settlement, but said they were happy with the outcome.
The settlement in the federal suit against the city marks a notable change in the relationship between Forest Hills Stadium and its neighbors. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
“The Corporation is happy we were able to reach a settlement with the City, and looks forward to working with the police going forward, and in maintaining our longstanding close working relationship with both the police and the City,” said Jeff Mitchell, one of the two newly elected legal chairs at FHGC.
A Law Department spokesperson said the settlement “was in the best interest of the parties and overall public safety.”
FHGC has an active case against West Side Tennis Club in Queens Supreme Court, which is currently on appeal by the corporation in the Appellate Division, Second Department.
The board did not answer a question from the Eagle about what FHGC intends to do with the suit going forward, but said that communication is ongoing between the two parties.
Another concert season on the horizon
Normally, the months leading up to the summer concert season at Forest Hills Stadium have an air of contention.
At this time last year, it wasn’t even clear there would be any concerts because the NYPD said they wouldn’t issue permits or police the streets around the controversial music venue.
The city ultimately resolved the issue, and the show was free to go on. But residents were still unhappy with crowds and noise at the stadium.
While some may still have complaints, the relationship between the stadium and the board is more congenial now that the lawsuits are beginning to fade away.
The stadium already has a fully booked concert season for this summer, which starts in June with indie group Bright Eyes. The stadium will later host shows from the Dave Matthews Band and the legendary artist Paul Simon, who spent much of his childhood in Kew Gardens Hills.
Amid the clash between the stadium and its neighbors, local elected officials and the stadium’s operators maintained that the concerts and events were an economic plus for Queens.
In a self-funded study published in March, Forest Hills Stadium said its 2024 events season generated $42.5 million in economic activity for Forest Hills and New York.
“Forest Hills Stadium is a cultural and artistic heartbeat of New York City and indisputably one of the best music venues in the entire country, but arguably the stadium's most important contribution is the immense economic activity it generates in Forest Hills and beyond, as this study makes clear,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, a longtime supporter of the venue. “From hiring hundreds of Queens residents to attracting thousands of customers to Forest Hills' shops, bars and restaurants, Forest Hills Stadium continues to deliver for The World's Borough. I look forward to another successful concert season starting this spring,” he added.
