Brooklyn Old-Timers: Keep Euro Rave Out of Our Hood

UPDATE, Friday: Time Warp has retreated to Sunset Park at the behest of Crown Heights NIMBYs.

UPDATE, Thursday evening: Time Warp, which insists it is “not a rave,” has responded to Crown Heights community members. Scroll to the bottom of the page to read promoters’ statement in full.

Original story:

Germany’s legendary Time Warp festival, called “the most prestigious techno festival in the world” by the Village Voice, is finding out, one week before showtime in New York City, that Brooklynites living near the rave’s planned 2015 venue aren’t necessarily as impressed as the rest of the world.

Last year — Time Warp’s first year in NYC — the rave was housed at the 39th Street Pier in a mostly industrial part of Sunset Park, Brooklyn. (After it reportedly failed to secure the proper permits for the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx.)

For this year’s event, in contrast, Time Warp plans to pull all-nighters on Nov. 20 and Nov. 21 at the Bedford Union Armory — a gorgeous, castle-like structure smack dab in the middle of residential Crown Heights.

But Brooklyn’s neighborhood protectors aren’t going to let thousands of moon-eyed raver kids flood to Bedford Avenue and Union Street without a fight.

A weighty coalition of local politicians, religious leaders and community groups tried to stage an intervention at a Thursday morning press conference.

“Renting the Armory, in the heart of a quiet residential neighborhood for two all-night EDM festivals is another example of the callous attitude that community residents have been feeling,” Marsha Bornstein, head of the Community Armory Committee, said in a statement.

“The main drill hall is not insulated to dampen sound and major safety concerns there are not well-defined emergency exits,” New York State Assemblyman Walter Mosley added.

Partiers flocking to the armory for past events have kept nearby residents awake late into the night, and left gobs of street trash in their wake, neighbors argued.

(UPDATE: Time Warp has promised to install soundproofing at the armory and run shuttles to and from the event to “keep people, noise and debris off the streets.” Details at the bottom of the page.)

But it was New York State Senator Jesse Hamilton who served perhaps the sickest burn of the morning, when he said:

“The rave’s website says it is built ‘by artist collectives, technicians and interdisciplinary creatives from all over the world,’ but the world they refer to does not include Crown Heights. It does not include the creative spirit from our part of Brooklyn.”

Time Warp is known for its industry-leading light shows and set designs, which usually include ice caves and undulating ceilings and other man-made wonders that look really, really cool on ecstasy.

Tickets go for around $200 for two nights.

According to Time Warp’s Facebook page, construction on “The Cave 2.0” will begin at the Bedford Union Armory on Monday, Nov. 16.

Our call to the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the city department that owns the Bedford Union Armory, was hot-potatoed between three different people for around 10 minutes before it was dropped completely. We tried calling back, but there was no answer.

UPDATE: Time Warp officials have responded — at length — to community concerns. Below, their statement in full.

We would like to provide information to the community about the upcoming Time Warp event at the Bedford Armory.

Let’s be clear — Time Warp is not a rave. It is a venerable, globally recognized celebration of music with high-level production, featuring 27 artists from 12 different countries. Our core audience consists of adults, primarily ranging from 23 to 35 years of age.

Time Warp has a proven record of safe and successful events. At last year’s event at Pier 39 in Brooklyn, the Chief of the 72nd Police Precinct and the local community board were so pleased that they wrote letters of endorsement.

We have gone to great lengths to minimize disruption to the community, including:

• Proactively hiring acoustical engineers to soundproof the venue especially for this event.
• Hiring 10 shuttle buses between the Atlantic Terminal subway stop and the Armory, to keep people, noise and debris off the streets. The police have also set up a bus lane to keep traffic flowing.
• Fulfilling all permit requirements

This event will have a substantial positive financial impact on the community. Sixty percent of ticket buyers are coming from outside of New York, traveling from 33 different countries and 43 states. Our staff alone has rented 100 local hotel rooms and will be patronizing all local restaurants.

We would be happy to meet with any community members to walk them through our plans. We want this event to be successful not only for Time Warp and its fans, but the community as well.