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Apr. 5-11, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
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More noise relief for northern Queens
Sound-reducing helicopter route over Bayside & Whitestone continues six more months
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Northeast Queens
residents will get
even more relief from
incessant helicopter noise
this summer.
On April 1, Congressman
Tom Suozzi and Councilman
Paul Vallone announced
that the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA)
extended the alternative
North Shore Helicopter
route for an additional 180
days.
The FAA began a sixmonth
test of an alternative
helicopter route in October
2018, which shifted air traffic
away from Whitestone,
Bayside and other northeast
Queens neighborhoods
while cutting helicopter and
seaplane traffic by up to 50
percent.
The lawmakers
confirmed that the 180-day
route extension will run
through Oct. 2, 2019.
“This 180-day extension
of the alternative route will
dramatically improve the
quality of life for affected
residents, particularly
during the busier and
noisier summer months,”
Suozzi said.
Since becoming the cochair
of the Congressional
Quiet Skies Caucus, Suozzi
and local groups like the
We Love Whitestone Civic
Association have been
working with the FAA
to adopt common sense
solutions to mitigate the
noise and air pollution
caused by the old North
Shore helicopter route,
which flew over the north
shore of Long Island.
LaGuardia Tower and
New York TRACON used
the alternative route during
the six-month test period
that began last October.
During that time period, the
FAA conducted tests and
evaluated the alternative
route on VFR helicopters
and float planes operating
at New York City heliports
and seaports.
“Expanding this pilot
program until Oct. 2 will
give families in Bayside,
Whitestone and College
Point much needed relief
from the onslaught of
noise low-flying, chartered
helicopters bring to our
communities,” Vallone said.
“It is our continued hope
that the FAA will consider
taking this transformative
program from pilot to
permanent.”
To solicit community
feedback, the FAA held
three public meetings —
two on Long Island and
THE IRON THRONE OF BAYSIDE
Call him the boy king of Bayside. Gabriel Galofaro sits on the Iron Throne at Fort Totten on
March 30 as Michael R.J. Campbell and Jerard Allas look on. The Iron Throne was one of seven
placed at locations around the world by HBO in promoting the final season of Game of Thrones,
which premieres April 14. Photo by Dean Moses
one in Queens — back in
November 2018.
But at the April 1
Community Board 11
meeting, board member and
President of Queens Quiet
Skies Janet McEneaney said
that she thought the FAA
was doing a “terrible” job at
involving the community in
pertinent issues.
McEneaney shared
her experience at the 2019
Aviation Noise and Emission
Symposium in Florida,
where she and community
representatives from other
states gave input on ways
the FAA could better involve
the community.
She got feedback from
Kevin Welsh, the executive
director of the FAA’s
Office of Environment
and Energy.
“He got up and he said,
‘Janet, I really agree with
you. It is a paradigm shift.’
He said there is an invisible
infrastructure within the
FAA. In other words, not
everybody agrees with this
and things have changed
slowly. But he said, ‘I want
you to know that you have
been heard.'”
Vol. 85 No. 14 60 total pages
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