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.