In the next two or three years, the Summer Concert Series, born in the Courtyard of City Hall, is expected to move to a new Downtown venue.
“As part of the Parcel B development,” said Vice Mayor Andy Weissman, “Town Plaza is going to expand. The design of Parcel B, highlighted by a set of wide and high steps called the Grand Stairway, was intriguing because it offered an opportunity for a kind of amphitheatre setting for concerts.
“It is in that regard,” said Mr. Weissman, “that we are looking at the possibility of moving the Summer Concert Series over there.
The timeline is cloudy.
Eighteen months is predicted for construction. “If they start this year, Parcel B can be ready in two years,” Mr. Weissman said.
Meanwhile the latest annual approval of the Concert Series’s financial plans and the stewardship of entrepreneur Gary Mandell is expected to fly through City Council at this evening’s 7 o’clock meeting.
Mr. Mandell said he was not taking the outcome for granted. “You just never know want somebody is going to pull out of the bag,” he said.
Every ready with a punchline, Mr. Mandell was asked whether he goes into the meeting optimistically or skeptically.
A long pause.
“Tiredly,” he cracked. “Still recovering from the Australian Open (tennis tournament), which comes on late at night.”
Ruminating about baseball, Mr. Mandell said free agent Dodger pitcher Zack Greinke “would have gone to the Yankees instead of Arizona, but he wanted too much in New York. They could handle the money. But the fact he wanted to change the team name to the New York Greinkes was too much.
“I am disappointed in the Dodgers. This is Vin Scully’s last season, and their games still are not on TV.”
