Imagine waking up to find out you’ve got mere hours to move your car because a political rally has taken over your neighborhood. That’s exactly what happened to residents of Forest Hills Gardens in New York City when a last-minute parking ban blindsided them for a sold-out event at Forest Hills Stadium. It’s the kind of heavy-handed overreach that makes you wonder if city hall even remembers who they’re supposed to serve, as New York Post reports.
This past Sunday, a get-out-the-vote rally for Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, featuring progressive heavyweights Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, turned the quiet Forest Hills Gardens neighborhood upside down with a poorly communicated parking restriction that left locals fuming.
The trouble started on Saturday when the NYPD’s 112th precinct dropped a bombshell notice, giving residents less than 24 hours to clear their vehicles from streets near the stadium by 9 a.m. the next day. No mention was made in the notice that this was for Mamdani’s “New York is Not For Sale” campaign event. It’s almost as if the city thought hiding the reason would make the inconvenience sting less.
“The city has been VERY well aware of this event, as they issued the Public Assembly Permit. So why is the community being given less than 24 hours notice?” asked local resident Jenna Cavuto on X, perfectly capturing the frustration of a neighborhood caught off guard.
Let’s be real—issuing a permit means the city knew this was coming, yet somehow failed to coordinate with the very people whose lives would be disrupted. This isn’t just poor planning; it’s a glaring disregard for basic courtesy. If progressive leaders like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez want to champion “community,” maybe they should start by not steamrolling one.
The rally itself, held at Forest Hills Stadium with a capacity of up to 15,000, was a sold-out affair on the second day of early voting in the municipal elections. Mamdani, running against Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, clearly pulled out all the stops with star power. But at what cost to the folks who call this area home?
Residents like Max Londner weren’t shy about their anger over the abrupt mandate. “It really messed up,” Londner told reporters, summing up the chaos in blunt terms. The lack of foresight left many feeling sidelined in their own backyard.
And Londner’s frustration didn’t stop there. “Are you kidding me??? What about people that are away – people that may not be home?” he added, raising a valid point about the impracticality of such short notice for a community with diverse schedules.
This isn’t just a one-off gripe; tensions between Forest Hills Gardens residents, the city, and the stadium have been simmering for a while. The Forest Hills Garden Corporation, representing nearly 4,000 members, even filed a federal lawsuit against the city last week, alleging unconstitutional property takeovers during over 30 concert days this summer to financially benefit the venue. Sunday’s parking ban only poured fuel on an already raging fire.
The NYPD, for their part, tried to justify the heavy-handed approach with a statement on Sunday. “The NYPD patrols the public streets around Forest Hills stadium and does critical crowd control before, during, and after events. Due to the nature of today’s event, the NYPD will have a larger presence in and around the stadium to ensure the safety of all involved,” the department explained.
Safety is important, no question, but let’s not pretend this excuses the abysmal communication. If the city and event organizers knew a “larger presence” was needed, why wasn’t the community looped in sooner? This smells like bureaucracy prioritizing political optics over everyday people.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Mamdani has teamed up with Sanders for a high-profile event. Last month, Sanders hosted a “Fight Oligarchy” gathering at a Brooklyn College concert hall with Mamdani as the featured guest. These events may energize their base, but they seem to leave a trail of disruption for regular folks.
For many in Forest Hills Gardens, the rally felt like another example of city elites and progressive agendas trampling over local concerns. The short notice, the parking ban, the lack of transparency—it all adds up to a community feeling unheard. If this is what “progress” looks like, some might prefer to hit the brakes.
At the end of the day, residents just want a say in how their neighborhood is managed, especially when big events roll in with big names. The frustration isn’t with Mamdani or his supporters personally, but with a system that seems to forget the little guy while preaching about fairness.
Forest Hills Gardens deserves better than being an afterthought in the city’s political playbook. If leaders want to rally for change, they might start by respecting the very communities they claim to represent. Otherwise, these stunts risk alienating more voters than they inspire.
