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Unannounced Barclays Center event for Hasidic group draws elected officials. NYPD lets volunteers (!) cordon off streets. Scofflaw vehicles block sidewalks, paths.

Every month, neighbors of the Barclays Center get an arena event calendar from "Barclays Center Cares." The reality, though, is they care very selectively.

Pacific Street and Carlton Avenue, access
managed by the Shomrim safety patrol
Yesterday, with no public notice, the arena hosted an event for the Satmar Hasidic sect that proved disruptive to neighbors and represented, as I wrote on Twitter/X, "one of the more egregious takeovers of public space in Barclays Center history."

Here's a press release for the event, Satmar Barclays Event will Celebrate 80th Anniversary of Rebbe's Rescue from the Nazis, Spearheading the Community's Rebirth in NY, which was circulated by the Satmar community, curiously enough, only today.

Political power  

This was done surely with the encouragement of the Mayor's office, which likely wanted to meet the needs of a constituency that tends to vote as a bloc. 

Mayor Eric Adams was in attendance, as were Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Sen. Chuck Schumer. Also, as noted here: State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. Rep. Mike Lawler (who has Hasidic constituents upstates), and Council Member Lincoln Restler.  Also: Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Mayor's Community Affairs Commissioner Fred Kreizman.

(No women; it was an all-male event.)

Why didn't the Barclays Center announce it?

I got a mealy-mouthed response saying the NYPD was fully briefed (so what) and the arena generally doesn't announce private events, which is partly untrue and deeply unhelpful, since you can't be a good neighbor without alerting people to potential disruption. (A similar problem occurred at a Catholic event in July.)  

I'll discuss it more further below.

Clearing the way

First, the NYPD posted "No Parking" signs on Pacific Street between Sixth and Carlton avenues. Then it had remaining vehicles towed. 
Why? To provide free parking to arenagoers. The NYPD even outsourced street management to representatives of the Shomrim--volunteer safety patrols in the Orthodox and Hasidic communities, not just from the Satmar stronghold of Williamsburg but also from the Rockaways and Staten Island.

Their vehicles guarded both entrances to Pacific Street, where visitors were allowed not merely to combat-park on the north side, but to park on the public sidewalk. 

Their vehicles also guarded Dean Street between Flatbush and Sixth avenues, allowing selective entrance to the area near the arena's back entrance. Vehicles parked on the Dean Street sidewalk even blocked a neighbor from maneuvering a stroller into his own front door.

More disruption

Congestion blocked a fire truck at Dean Street and Sixth Avenue. A bus sticking out into the crosswalk at Sixth and Atlantic avenues blocked the pedestrian path.
At least ten yellow school buses were double-parked along Flatbush Avenue, reported resident Bobby Linsley, and I saw about 24 tour-type buses, half of them double-parked, along Atlantic Avenue.
What Barclays said

I queried Barclays and got this response from a spokesperson: "Off-the-record, yesterday’s event at Barclays Center was a private event. We generally do not provide community notice for private events, however the NYPD was fully aware and briefed in advance."

Why am I printing an "off-the-record" response? Because those ground rules have to be agreed to beforehand. 

Does Barclays "generally do not provide community notice for private events." Well, yes, and no.

In May and June 2023, the arena announced various graduation ceremonies, but in May and June 2024 did not. That's unwise, since it alerts neighbors to crowds. They did announce an "Amex Shoot" in November 2024.

June 2023 announcement

They do announce private events that dovetail with the projects of the arena company owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, such as a Reform Alliance Job Fair, a BK-XL Demo Day, or a Just Brooklyn Prize ceremony.

They've more cryptically announced "Private Events" in November 2022, October 2023, February 2024,

In nearly the first four years of the arena's existence, Barclays was were more responsive, alerting neighbors of events with not just times but also the expected crowd size. As I wrote, that was abandoned after May 2016, with an arena representative rather dubiously claiming that it was for security reasons.


By February 2018, they had restored the practice, but without information about the nature of the private events. But that was under a different arena operating company.

Defining disruption down

Are there lessons for Philadelphia, which just approved a new downtown arena, from the traffic chaois?

After Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron pointed to my tweet, I clarified that it's not as bad for basketball--but had to further clarify that it's not all smooth, either.
In other words, after a dozen years, most neighbors have gotten "used to" routine encroachment on their space by people looking for free parking, idling for a pickup, or otherwise trying to drive to Barclays.

So events like the one yesterday stand out.
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