The show (might) go on!
Tensions might finally ease between Forest Hills Stadium and a private homeowners group that claims the ear-splitting noise is ruining the neighborhood — after an insurgent slate of candidates took over the group’s board.
The seven candidates will make up nearly half of the 15-person board that oversees the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation after winning 55% of the annual vote, which took place Dec. 15, shelving several anti-stadium members.
The election could mean the end of the bitter three-year war between the Forest Hills Stadium and the board, which has filed numerous lawsuits against the venue and the city for allegedly ruining its neighbor’s quality of life.
“The goal is to bring the temperature down, find areas where we agree, identify where we don’t agree, and see if we can come to agreement on those things we don’t agree about,” said Jeff Mitchell, a trial lawyer and member of the incoming board.
“There’s no guarantees that we can do that, but we want to put our focus on trying to do that rather than just spending money on lawyers litigating.”
Mitchell stopped short of saying the lawsuits — including one lodged against the city for allegedly taking over the group’s private streets — would dissolve, but said sitting at the table to find “peace” was the goal.
“Our expectation is that we want to talk to the city and find a way to just resolve that quickly. We want to have good relations with the city of New York. We do not want to fight with the city of New York,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell and the other candidates previously told The Post that they agreed the concerts have been too frequent and too loud and gone too late in recent memory, but emphasized that the problem could have been handled more civilly.
Instead, the sitting board blitzed the stadium and its promoter, Tiebreaker, with legal disputes that sunk about $1 million into the pockets of lawyers over three years, The Post reported last month.
The FHGC’s increased legal spending meant raising the cost of living for its residents while cutting off the flow of cash that the stadium had previously provided, the candidates contended.
The slate exposed last month how its predecessors spent $1 million in legal fees to battle its namesake concert venue in recent years, $439,425 of which was spent this past year.
The FHGC asked to raise its 2026 legal budget to $300,000, an astonishing number Mitchell says won’t be used up under the new board’s control.
Fellow incoming board member Brittany Russell was “not surprised” that the entire slate of insurgents was elected, even in the face of accusations from the sitting board that they were staging a “hostile takeover.”
“I always felt that the board was not representative of the views of the majority of the neighborhood,” said Russell, pointing out that the concert venue is both a cultural and commercial asset for Forest Hills.
“The goal is to improve the quality of life for people who live in the neighborhood, and also have a deal that is financially fair to the Gardens that recognizes that the Gardens own the street. While also acknowledging the stadium’s right to exist.”
The new board is set to go into effect on Dec. 1, some four months before the first concert of the season hits the stage.
“Forest Hills Stadium looks forward to working with the newly elected Forest Hills Gardens Corporation Board in the new year, and we remain committed to open communication and cooperation toward pathways that benefit the entire community,” Grace Smoker, a rep for Tiebreaker, said in a statement.
The current FHGC declined to comment.
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