Macy’s jilts the Queens waterfront out of the usual fireworks display
As it’s been noted, the prime Queens fireworks waterfront viewing spots were rendered useless on Friday, since Macy’s moved the barge further downtown towards the Brooklyn Bridge for what seems to be controversial reasons.
Macy’s, the corporate sponsor of the fireworks, seems to have been influenced by NBC, who seems to have been influenced by Tishman-Speyer, to move the barges further south this year, so that the televised view of the fireworks would display more of the city skyline. Gothamist also points out, that Stuyvesant Town was curiously displayed over 7 times as the backdrop for the fireworks. Seems Tishman-Speyer, the owners of Stuy Town, are having some trouble renting out their market rate apartments. Cashing on their relationship with NBC (they own the headquarters), they were able to somehow get Macy’s to move the barges. Somehow there’s a missing link in the hip-bone-connected-to-the-knee-bone chain, but the ad campaign for Stuy Town is a bit too obvious to ignore.
Now why is this important to us? Well, as we all noticed, LIC spends a whole week preparing for this one day of the year where the neighborhood gets flooded with people. For many LIC businesses, the 4th of July is the single highest grossing day of the year. Since we’re not a bustling shopping hub, Christmas-time tends to deplete the neighborhood, instead of boost business. So all LIC really has right now is the fireworks. For this reason alone, we’re giving this topic some attention, as it’s unknown if the barges will return to their old spots.
It is an interesting reminder that corporations really run the show. (In more ways than one.) It is the Macy’s fireworks, not the NYC fireworks, and of course they can do whatever they want. But it’s so ingrained in NYC tradition, that the fireworks have felt more like a cultural event than a corporate ad campaign… which is really what it’s always been. It’s not a bad thing. We just forgot that it’s not about us or the celebration of our country’s hard-fought independence. In any case, the decision to move the barges backfired on the sponsoring companies thanks to all the bad press it generated by jilting both Queens and Mid-town out of a treasured experience.
In any case, if you are an LIC business owner or care about the fireworks returning to LIC next year, here are some helpful comments from the previous thread:
“Sending serious issue correspondence via e-mail is a joke, and is virtually useless. The vast majority get deleted by screeners. No one will take them seriously. Write real letters and send them certified mail. Contact and get all the community representatives involved. Get Community Board 2 involved. Get business owners in the area involved. Start petitions, spread them around and keep them circulating for months, to ensure enough signatures. Get the developers, real estate people, and building managent involved; it’s in their best interests. Get the State Parks people involved; it’s good for their business too. Contact the local news media (especially broadcast/cable), to try and get a story done on the growing population and prominence of Hunters Point, and how Macy’s just yanked the established prime viewing area rug, out from under it.”
MACY’s 151 W 34th St New York, NY 10001
“Just go to Macy’s website — you will find a wealth of info. Some are at Macys Herald Square and others are at Federated HQ in Cincinatti(sp?) If you have the time to do the research and the equipment to do so,I would suggest an e-mail blast followed up with hard copies via snailmail. In the meantime, I also suggest that the number of letters that cross the desk of Macy’s CEO Terry Lungdren would have some impact.”
Even the cops were surprised about it. Now that said something.
i just wanted to thank the helicopter that was hovering over the area of 50th ave and 5th streets during the entire fireworks show…you completely ruined the show for many in the area. the helicopter was there from beginning to end, probably not hovering more than 100 feet above the buildings, and completely drowning out all explosions from the already distant firework display. great!
Jesus. Really? “I want my fireworks and I don’t want to go anywhere for them because I have never had to before!”
You’re not five. You travel to work every day. Get off your ass and stop complaining.
Thanks for posting this. The fireworks are great for Queens and great for LIC business. Parts of Astoria used to be able to see the fireworks but they can’t see them now.
You can contact Eric Gioia, NYC Councilman at:
District Office Address
47-01 Queens Boulevard
Suite 205
Sunnyside, New York 11104
District Office Phone
718-383-9566
District Office Fax
718-383-9076
Hi liqcity -your post has hit curbed –let the commenting begin!
Those of you who are telling us to “go elsewhere” to see the fireworks have obviously not been around these parts very long. The fireworks have served lower Manhattan well up into midtown along with the same range this side of the river for over 2 decades. This year they were confined to a very small window of viewing opportunity in order to promote Stuy Town and create a spectacular to fit the TV screen.
I too thought the fireworks sucked and I found the lackluster viewing from Gantry Park disappointing. However, this holier than thou “entitlement ” discussion in bordering on the ridiculous. Yes it sucks that Macy’s moved the barge and that NBC hyped the heck of of TS’s Stuytown, but unless local businesses are going to kick in some funds to Macy’s I think this is a moot discussion. Macy’s pays for those fireworks out of the “goodness” of their bank book. Despite whatever ulterior marketing motives they and or NBC have, it’s their show, and it’s free. They can do what they want, unless of course you want the city to pony up the millions for the show?
So in the eyes of the self-centered, ivory-towered HP/Queens West crowd, no one else in the city deserves to enjoy an unobstructed view of fireworks on the river, not people in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, south Brooklyn, and the Lower East Side? What else will you whiny saps do to support some greedy local business owner perverting the meaning on the holiday?
Actually, when the fireworks in the location last year- everyone in BK could see them. And the folks in the LES couldn’t see them this year.
#8 It’s not even so much about LIC, it’s that Queens has been an established viewing point for a long time. Neighborhood rituals are part of identity… something special was kind of usurped. If we had never had it, we wouldn’t have missed it. But this is corporate shenanigans. It’s supposed to be about celebration and the city. It’s just very sad to see that it’s not. I agree, I’m not going to whine about it… but I became that much more mistrusting of the city and the big companies here. That’s all. They clearly don’t give a shit about anything but themselves. I guess it’s the NYC way.
20 some years ago there was no Queens West- in fact there was no development. If you look at the Macys site map for the fireworks, you will see that Greenpoint had a great vantage point. Also, the fireworks have never reached the way Soutern edge of the lower East Side. You have to be on the FDR at the point where the closures begin in the East Village. When I lived in Gramercy Park, we always walked out to the FDR in the Stuy Town vicinity .
Unless you work in the accounting dept at Macys, you really do not know whether all the funding comes from them!
At least we get to see some fireworks on LIQcity.
Not only were the firework movement a disappointment and embarassment for my family and friends that waited in the rain at the spot that we all remember as a good viewing space but we felt that there was a missing barge. I hope that the press grills the city officials for a real good honest answer. I trusted my memory and tradition instead of checking the papers before I went, which does make it partially my fault however do people check the papers to see if the Rockfeller tree is still at Rockfeller center? Will they move the Thanksgiving day parade to 1st Avenue so that it goes by the Tishman Speyer buildings? I think that if you are truely going to change tradition like that you really need to have a much better public campaign to make them aware ahead of time.
10, why don’t you and your neighbors, your building boards, and your wealthy real estate developer partners who marketed the hell out of LIC for their own benefit pony up your own money and you can enjoy your very own private fireworks show next year? You can even get a permit and block off the waterfront for yourselves, which is something I bet many of you are itching to do anyway.
If it took this issue to wake you up to “corporate shenanigans” in this city, then you really need to open your eyes and look around. Listening to a bunch of adults cry, moan, and shake their fists about a free fireworks show — FIREWORKS –is disgusting.
I believe the term is Fireworksgate! Love it.
Yes, they will likely move the parade so that NBC can get a better shot…
#14 needs a diaper change.
What the hell was Macy’s thinking? Don’t they know that the universe revolves around Citylights?
#5 is that the same Eric Gioia who got the #7 train from closing down on weekends? Don’t bother.
Folks - must I remind you once again–this has nothing to do with City Lights –the fireworks were here and in mid-town long before there was any development in Hunters Point.
I think the haters of CityLights care more about hating on it, than the residents care about glorifying it.
what is #18 talking about. They had to shut down the 7 on weekends for much needed electrical work.
Grammar Police have been called, #20
I know. They’re arresting me right now.
is this a new font?
Does this mean that the property value just went down in LIC?
I love this place, but I can’t believe that business bank on July 4th as THE day to make money for the year.
Here’s a sweet map that I consulted to figure out where to be on Friday:
http://www1.macys.com/campaign/sitelets/fireworks/viewing.jsp
Of course, I used to have a nice, unobstructed view of the fireworks from my roof before some buildings got in the way.
Imagine, being told by word of mouth that these great fireworks happen every year on the East River around the 30s/FDR drive. So you are now visiting NY for the first time from thousands of miles away. You get on the FDR and spend the entire day to get a good spot. Then after all those hours of waiting, you and your tired children see nearly nothing while waiting all day and now leave NY wet and disappointed all b/c they wanted some projects turned real estate project to get more camera coverage.
Wow, imagine, maybe it’s your own personal responsibility to have checked the event information before you left the house in the first place.
Again, I think it totally sucked that Macy’s moved the barge further south for their grand anniversary spectacular or whatever the puke they were calling it. But I already knew that before July 4th, even information clearly stated the location of the barges. Moreover, when I went down to Gantry Park in the late afternoon and was asking an event organizer and officer about the wrist band policy for re-admittance to the pier once things got crowded he had no problem pointing out to me that the barges were going to be much further down river. The fact that there wasn’t a barge across from the piers or near them was pretty obvious as well!
Complain to Macy’s and NBC sure, no problem, they stiffed folks in midtown this year. But that’s about it. But blaming them because you were an idiot and spent all day in a location that had no visible viewing angle on anything is your fault, not theirs.
Likewise, this idiotic claim that July 4th makes the year for local businesses. No doubt it is a hit to not have the volume of extra business that comes in on July 4th. But then again, I’m pretty sure the influx of new residents that are there in the neighborhood for the other 364 days of the year more than make up for it; especially given some of the prices charged by local vendors.
At least three business owners told me that the 4th is their biggest day.
What’s up with the hating- why is it wrong to have tradition, local pride and support local businesses?
Despite the fact that CityLighters are a bunch of winny arrogant a-holes, the fireworks are great for and belong in front of LIC, end of story. Not only for the businesses in the area but its people. Congrats for Liqcity for being the only website to do something about the situation.
Boycott Macy’s!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marshall’s is cheaper anyway.
You plebes who want a better view should all just chip in for a massively overpacked yacht rental.
canoes!
Its not about wanting a better view. Its about changing tradition. They were never that far down before and people have a right to be annoyed by this change. Guaranteed all the people on this site that think those that are complaining are whiney babies are also people that havent lived in this city for very long and also dont understand what tradition means (which makes sense b/c they left their families in [California], [Michigan], [New Jersey], [fill in location] and therefore dont have any traditions with their local families anymore.) New York is full of its holiday traditions and regardless of the increasing number of rich, trustfund refugees that this city gains, we cant let go of our traditional midtown fireworks, midtown parades, midtown holiday celebrations….
Kayaks!
#34.
Awfully presumptuous of you to make such statements as “which makes sense b/c they left their families in…” Amazing. And to go on about the “increasing number of rich, trustfund refugees..” Equally amazing.
Not only do you imply that only native New Yorkers somehow have any semblance and understanding of tradition, you then somehow imply that New York herself is not home to any native trust fund babies. Yet our whole plight, oh boy, is based on reported scalawags and carpet baggers not of New York who have no traditions and nothing but wads of cash.
Maybe you should get out and actually meet some people from other places, and before you go off about the rich and privileged from beyond yonder go take a walk around some of New York City’s finer elementary, middle, high school, and collegiate educational establishments.
Last time I checked, this tradition was changed by the department store that has been based here fore over 100 years, broadcast by a network that was founded and has been operated from here for more than 50 years, and perhaps even incensed by a real estate controlled by three Manhattan moguls who all went to Columbia University and who best as I can tell, grew up around all these traditions the rest of us who weren’t born here are want to understand.
Ha. Yeah, rich Michigan trust-fund babies. Wads of ‘em. I don’t think most people moving into this city in the past 10 years had even heard of a trust fund until faced with all these Ivy League/private school grads from Manhattan and elsewhere on the East Coast, some of whom probably live in those fancy condos.
Despite messages above, I sent an email to Macy’s the other day and received the following response:
Thanks for your thoughtful note. We have received a number
of inquiries with regard to change in location of Macy’s 32nd Annual
Fireworks. While it is true that Macy’s has presented the show in the
same mid-town location for a decade or so, it actually began as a West Side
event and has, in fact, been presented in various locations in the waters
around Manhattan over the years including the Brooklyn Bridge and New York
Harbor. As you can probably imagine, we receive many letters every year
from people in upper Manhattan, the West Side, Jersey City and Hoboken
asking “when is it our turn?” or “how about my neighborhood next year?” The
truth is that we did our best this year to disclose the change in location
and we have heard from others farther uptown that it was still “beautiful”
show. In a city this sprawling, there is no way to cover every neighborhood
of the city. Most of our 4MM of so spectators travel short distances by
bus, tram or car to get the best view of the show. I apologize for any
inconvenience you may have experienced, and I thank you for taking the time
to write. RH
Robin Hall | Senior Vice President |
Macy’s Parade & Entertainment Group | 11 Penn Plaza, 11th Floor |
NYC 10001
That’s what is known as a “Form Letter”. It’s general in nature, so as to apply to a wide range of correspondences on a given subject. It’s a virtual guarantee that a Senior Vice-President, or even anyone with a real position of authority within the company, never read any of the e-mails. They’re probably generated automatically, upon receipt of applicable incoming e-mails, or sent off by a screener(s). Eventually, there will be a cutoff point, where all e-mails on the subject will just be deleted, or redirected to a trash bin, or to somewhere in cyber limbo.
That “letter” does what is known in the retail business, as “handling” the customer. It gives the air of explaining or solving the problem, when it really accomplishes nothing of substance. They are just nice words strung together, seeming to have real meaning; sort of like most political speeches.
Charlie.
The Taliban would have never moved the barges.
Macy’s CEO is Terry LUNDGREN, not Terry Lungdren.
What was Macy’s thinking? Well, that retail sucks and that fireworks are expensive and that if they can get Tishman to kick in for part of the cost, Macy’s saves $$ and still gets to say they do the biggest fireworks display in the country…
I’m the receipient of the form letter- I hardly expect that I’m going to get a totally personalized letter from anyone in the company. But it’s worth sending it anyway.
Charlie- i hope you’re more positive in real life.
Charlie is not being negative. He’s just being real.
Macys “on the Hudson” was years and years ago. ….long before the sophisticated show that they put on today. Only once in recent memory did they move the entire show down to the Statue of Liberty. That was in 1992 . I remember it well because that was the year I moved to Hunters Point and had been looking forward to seeing the show from this vantage point. That form letter is a bunch of malarkey!
With Macy*s reasoning than we should expect the Thanksgiving Day Parade to go down Queens Blvd. next year and Atlantic Ave. in 2010. While they are at it maybe NJ in a few more years.
I am retired now, but spent my career years as an executive in the wonderful world of retail - and while Macys “produces” the 4th of July spectacular, I can pretty much assure you that much of the funding comes from other sources. In the immortal words of Max Bialystock - “never invest your own money”.
BTW, I know how to spell the CEO’S name -that was a typo!
I like how she said “tram” - when the people on Roosevelt Island couldn’t see the fireworks.
I am having a hard time understanding Macy’s logic. They are saying that they are trying to bring the fireworks to as many neighborhoods in the city as possible but they clustered all three barges so that only a few neighborhoods could see it. If anything, the old location of the barges allowed more neighborhoods to experience the fireworks. Lame excuse.
I heard the main reason was that NBC televised the show from the Water Club. I understand that agreement came to an end and the owner of the WaterClub was asking for more money to host the TV show. Like most people- NBC moved the TV show to Brooklyn for cheaper rent and that is why the fireworks were moved south.
#48 - you are correct - I guess they meant “more neighborhoods could stay home and watch a show tailored to fit their television screens”. I ended up doing that, and the show was far from spectacular including entertainment and the actual fireworks.
Thanks # 43. There are so many things that are happening today, which are negative (on a large scale, as smaller positive things happen thousands of times daily, as does the negative ones); so much so, that they overshadow what little large scale positive impact there seems to be out there. Just turn on the news, or pick up the daily paper.
I am not a negative person by nature. What I express in my posts, are things realistic. I basically took what everyone else was expressing as a negative, and put forth ideas on how to possibly rectify the situation. I try to do that in all my posts, where applicable.
Corporate America (as well as the rest of the corporate world), cannot by design, listen to the wants and needs of an individual, or a few people. It’s just not generally conducive to their bottom line. This is where the (mostly correct) impression of the big companies walking all over the little guys, comes from. Without getting into a huge discussion of all the reasons behind this, I’ll just say that what sounds like negative talk when I’m referring to situations such as the Fourth of July fireworks debate, is just me exposing the raw reality of it all.
In closing, what really sucks, is when corporate America buys government introduced but corporate designed bills, and legislative voting, on other issues concerning them. A solid Democracy putting forth guidelines, rules, regulations, and what-have-you, is what is needed to prevent big business from spiralling out of control. Whenever that is sidestepped by corporate lobbying and PACs, then we move another little step towards corporatocracy.
One last thing which has had me thinking about a lot, over the past few years, is the political and economic situation in China. The type of government they have there (Communism, State Socialism, Oligarchy, or call it what you wish), cannot survive in the long term, existing alongside a capitalistic free market system. It is doomed to failure. One day The Chinese Government and Corporate China will come head to head for control of the economy and country. You just cannot have the freedoms necessary for a free market to properly grow and prosper, in a system which must exercise extreme control over everything, especially free will and free speech. It will be the will of a few, versus the will of a few (as compared to the masses). That’s my little forecast for things fifty or so years down the road.
Charlie.
Do you think people will move out of LIC because of this??
there is so many other days of fireworks on the LIC waterfront.
Somebody find out where the grammar police live.
All too long ago, people were trying to convince the world that it revolved around the LIC waterfront. How wrong they were.
HA HA
the fireworks ‘DO NOT”cost millions. Next time - someone else should obtain a permit for the fireworks on the east river.
Fireworks. Big deal. Every Kiwanis Club in every shithole town in Middle America manages to put on a fireworks show each Fourth of July. I think there’s enough cash flowing around LIC to allow the neighborhood to sponsor its own show. Problem solved.
i’ll pitch in for 10 seconds worth. just have to check my bank account first.
I guess that mans you could make a trip to PA - buy some illegal rockets etc. - sneak them into NY - set them off in the street near where you live - and hopefully get arrestr!
No. 62, that’s what we always did before St. Giuliani (and his mini me, Bloomberg) cracked down on fireworks.
there’s a good reason fireworks are illegal. some man-child douche was lighting them off outside my apartment on the 4th and flaming debris was falling back down into the middle of the street and god knows where else.
Oh, gee so the rich folks in their towers didn’t get as good a view as they did last year. They may have had to even *gasp* stretch their necks a bit to see them! Well, as a resident for nearly 18 years in this neighborhood, I’ve already accepted I would never have a good view again thanks to those buildings obscuring any view I once had. Not to mention access to the waterfront being cut off dramatically. Can’t have the peasantry getting too close, after all.
It’s really rather amusing to see rich people screwed over by even richer people.
Thank you liqcity.