Promoters of a Randalls Island electronic music festival — unplugged by the city last year after two drug deaths — are pressing top mayoral aides for a permit to stage the event again.
Organizers of the Electric Zoo hired high-powered lobbyist Mike McKeon, whose firm, Mercury Public Affairs, raised $32,520 for Mayor de Blasio’s campaign and inauguration.
McKeon and another Electric Zoo lobbyist, Patrick Jenkins, recently reached out to key de Blasio aides, contacting Emma Wolfe, director of intergovernmental affairs; Dominic Williams, chief of staff to First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris, and Avi Fink, Wolfe’s deputy, city lobbyist disclosure records show.
The lobbyists are seeking a Parks Department permit so their client, EZ Festivals LLC, can operate the huge techno-music event at Randalls Island over Labor Day weekend.
Last year, the city shut down the final day of the show after college students Jeffrey Ross, 23, and Olivia Rotondo, 20, died from overdoses of a dangerous drug known as Molly.
There were four other nonlethal overdoses during last year’s festival, and critics blasted event organizers for lax security that allowed drugs to flow freely.
“I’m disappointed that the city is even considering the application considering what happened last year,” said Marina Ortiz, of E. Harlem Preservation Inc., whose neighborhood abuts the festival.
Geoffrey Croft, of the NYC Park Advocates, said that last year the city ignored pleas to shut down the party during a wild electrical storm on the first day of the three-day event.
“They’re back, and they’ve shown proof that they should not be allowed anywhere near our public parks,” Croft said.
De Blasio’s press secretary Phil Walzak declined to comment, and Parks Department spokesman Arthur Pincus said the application “is under review.”
Electric Zoo is already claiming online it has two “expected” dates on Randalls Island in late August. Mercury’s Stefan Friedman emphasized Tuesday that organizers have already taken steps “to bolster what was already an extremely robust safety apparatus.”
