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NEW YORK, June 2 (UPI) -- New York's City Island residents are apparently not big Jennifer Lopez fans. The 44-year-old singer will soon return to her home borough of the Bronx, and the impending visit has many locals upset. Lopez is scheduled to perform a free concert Wednesday, June 4 at Pelham Bay Park, and neighboring residents say the event will cause inconvenient traffic and all-around chaos.
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City Island Civic Association President Bill Stanton writes in a letter to Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver and NYPD Commissioner Bill Britain that 25,000 people are expected to flood the area for the concert. The performance begins at 5 p.m., and the unusual volume of weekday visitors will make it difficult for City Island's 4,500 residents to return home from work.
"To our knowledge, none of our elected officials or even our local community board had been consulted," Stanton says. "They would have surely informed you that our small community sits immediately off of this venue and relies on the roadways within Pelham Bay Park to enter and exit our neighborhood."
Lopez responded to concerns Sunday during a surprise appearance and $250,000 donation at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
"Our crowd is not as big as the July 4 crowd, so don't worry," she reassured locals. "Our crowd is not as big as the Memorial Day crowd. It's going to be awesome, you know, coming back to the Bronx and doing a concert for free for the neighborhood that raised me."
