Skip to main content

Featured Post

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Markowitz announces lineups for last concert series while in office; Forest City, Nets, Barclays among donors; will his role continue?

Borough President Marty Markowitz has announced the latest installment in the two summer concert series he sponsors, with the help of several companies, including Forest City Ratner, the Barclays Center, and the Brooklyn Nets.

Given that Markowitz will be out of office next year, it will be interesting to see if/how these series continue. Will he continue to organize them, and will companies that no longer need to stay in his good graces contribute as a lingering thank you? Will he pass the franchise on to his successor?

Remember the New York Times in October 2011 reported how several donors, including Zane Tankel of Applebee's (a sponsor of the concerts), described pressure from Markowitz:
“He took my arm and twisted it off — yeah, he more than asked me, he kept coming at me, until finally I said yes,” said Mr. Tankel, adding that he was an admirer of Mr. Markowitz.
Mr. Tankel, his company and his family have given at least $135,000 to the charities.
Mr. Tankel has a restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant at a mall called Restoration Plaza, which has benefited from $2.5 million in city subsidies, including $900,000 at the direction of Mr. Markowitz’s office. But Mr. Tankel said he did not feel that the pressure from Mr. Markowitz was unseemly. “I have never gotten a favor from Marty,” Mr. Tankel said.
The announcement
For more than twenty years, while he was State Senator, Marty Markowitz worked along with the Seaside Summer Concert Series and the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series to bring some of the best live entertainment to Brooklyn.
Now as Brooklyn Borough President, he continues to host the concerts that have entertained hundreds of thousands of residents over the years and remain the largest free Concert Series in the New York Metropolitan area.
The Seaside Summer Concert Series, now celebrating its 35th anniversary, is the largest free outdoor music series in New York. Located at West 21st Street and Surf Avenue in Coney Island--next to the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones--the series has attracted top-name classic rock, pop, oldies, contemporary and Latin performers.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series is hosting its 31st annual Season with a star-studded line-up of gospel, classic soul, contemporary, Caribbean and R&B artists. The free concerts are Monday nights at Wingate Field, entrances on Brooklyn Avenue (Rutland Road and Winthrop Street).
Seaside Summer Concerts and Martin Luther King Jr. Concerts would like to thank our generous sponsors for once again making the concerts possible.
NO cameras, NO alcohol, NO pets, NO bottles, NO smoking. All persons and packages are subject to search prior to entry.

Comments