Residents from Bayside and Douglaston joined northeast Queens elected officials for a large rally Saturday to protest a noisy flight pattern out of LaGuardia Airport that began early last summer.
Earlier this month, elected officials representing northeast Queens said they were upset that the route now appeared to be permanent and the Federal Aviation Administration had still not met with community leaders.
“They promised they would have a follow-up meeting after the
six-month test period was over,” said State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside,
who organized the weekend protest in front of his Bayside office. “Ten
days ago, we learned that the FAA did some kind of environmental review
and released what is known as a categorical exclusion, which means that
no further study is necessary. This is not acceptable. Some people have
lived in this community for generations and we’re not going to let their
quality of life be destroyed.”
The FAA could not be immediately reached for comment.
Last summer, residents of Bayside and Douglaston said the flight
pattern resulted in planes flying over their communities every minute of
the day.
Elected officials had been told that the route was part of a test
period and that public comment would be solicited once it was completed.
But community leaders said they were never given the opportunity to voice their complaints.
“Three months ago, I didn’t know what a contour study was – and why
should I?” said Janet McEneaney, a Community Board 11 member who led a
local charge to prevent the pattern from becoming permanent. “We never
had a public comment period. And now I’m told it’s over. I think we need
to have a seat at the table.”
U.S. Rep.-elect Grace Meng said airplane noise had been the key issue
she had spoken to northeast Queens residents about during her recent
campaign.
“The FAA’s mission says that it needs to be accountable to the public, but they are not doing that right now,” she said.
State Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, said the frequency of
planes over northeast Queens has made life miserable for many of its
denizens.
“This is not a minor inconvenience,” he said. “People can’t talk on the phone or watch TV. We are not going to quit on this.”
Avella said he was still attempting to set up a meeting with the FAA.
This coming week, he will meet with the Port Authority following his
recent introduction of a bill that would require noise studies to be
conducted prior to allowing new flight patterns.
“This has everything to do with economics and corporate greed,” said
Warren Schreiber, president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance. “They
want more planes taking off from LaGuardia Airport.”
Avella said the communities affected by the flight pattern include
Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Flushing, Bay Terrace and Whitestone.
http://bayside.patch.com
http://www.panynj.gov/airports/laguardia.html
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KLGA
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment