Special Representative for Federal Aviation Administration Affairs Rob Lebowitz (left) and East Hills Mayor Michael Koblenz (right) give their presentation on air traffic pollution stemming from JFK Airport’s 22L route. East Hills residents gathered at the village theater Monday to discuss noise and air pollution issues from stemming from planes approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport using the 22L route that pass through village airspace.
In a presentation from Village of East Hills Mayor Michael Koblenz and Rob Liebowitz, the village’s special representative for Federal Aviation Administration affairs, residents were informed of increase of JFK’s increased use of the 22L route in the last decade as well as the appropriate methods for filing a complaints to FAA and state officials.
According to Liebowitz and Koblenz’ presentation, 42.9 percent (7,743 of 18,048 total planes) of all airline arrivals in June flew over village airspace using the 22L runway, up from 31.9 percent of arrivals in June 2012. In addition, 39.3 percent of overnight flights in January 2013 used the 22L route as well.
Flights passing over East Hills tend to use a stepped approach of leveling off at 2,000 feet, Liebowitz said, which requires an additional engine thrust to maintain altitude and creates noise pollution.
Liebowitz and Koblenz also said that the 22L runway is being used even when wind direction suggests it should not be, and is used during overnight hours despite an agreement between the FAA and Port Authority not to.
The village has possible solutions in mind, like rerouting air traffic over the ocean and onto other runways when possible, evenly distributing planes to different runways so air traffic isn’t as consistent and the use a continuous descent approach that requires less engine thrust.
Liebowitz and Koblenz suggested residents write letters to elected officials and file complaints with the FAA, and provided those in attendance with forms and Internet links to do so.
Liebowitz’ said records supplied to him by the FAA showed that the FAA received only two complaints in June from East Hills residents, which was disputed by many in attendance.
Many residents, he said, have likely dialed the Town of North Hempstead’s 311 line, which circulates the complaints to town officials but does not always forward them to the Port Authority.
“311 somebody either answers your call, they don’t have a Web forum and presumably they’re going to forward your information to the Port Authority,” Liebowitz said. “By filling out this form, we know it’s being registered and we know it’s being handled by a third-party company the Port Authority has contracted with.”
Liebowitz and Koblenz said residents should contact the Port Authority directly and write letters to Sen. Charles E. Shumer (D-NY) and Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills), who Koblenz said have the political power to institute the solutions the village seeks.
“Those are the people who can call in the FAA and say ‘what are you doing?’ and have special hearings. But they’re not doing that yet because we’re not loud enough yet,” Koblenz said. “We only have a handful of people saying we have a problem. We’re not big enough. We’re not strong enough. So we need to be heard and we have to get other communities involved as well, and that’s not so easy.”
Koblenz said aircraft noise is not a new problem for East Hills, saying he has been writing letters of complaint to the FAA since 1999.
On July 16, Koblenz met with Israel as well as officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and village officials from across the North Shore at Old Brookville’s Village Hall to discuss the flow of air traffic on Long Island, and in the last few weeks the village has sent e-mails to residents urging them to write letters to state officials expressing their air traffic concerns.
Koblenz has also urged residents in attendance at board of trustees meetings in recent months to write letters voicing their discontent with the noise to Israel and state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola), and the village created an aircraft noise abatement committee at its May 20 meeting to direct residents’ complaints.
Koblenz said he has also circulated a letter to all other village mayors in the town of North Hempstead to increase support, but was told his own village should take the initiative in combating the FAA.
Liebowitz said the village had considered submitting a formal letter with signatures from residents, but he’s found that residents who submit individual letters tend to receive individual responses in return.
One resident in attendance suggested the village create a mobile app to submit mass quantities of complaints to the FAA that would also be sent to village officials for record keeping.
Story and Photo: http://www.theislandnow.com
