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OCTOBER 13, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
‘IT’S AN ASSAULT’
Brooklyn Heights residents outraged at ‘endless’ helicopter noise
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
They’ve had it way up to
there!
Helicopter traffi c over
Brooklyn Heights has transformed
life in one of Kings
County’s bougiest nabes
into a waking nightmare,
according to locals, who say
they feel besieged by the unending
racket caused by the
low-fl ying copters.
“If you ever go on the
Brooklyn Promenade, you
just hear them going back
and forth,” said Roberto
Gautier. “It’s an assault.”
Brooklyn Heights is part
of the Kings County fl y-over
route for helicopters taking
off from Lower Manhattan
on sightseeing tours and
raucous trips to LaGuardia
and John F. Kennedy airports
in Queens, which have
grown more frequent in the
wake of the lux helicopter
service that ride-share company
Uber began offering
earlier this month.
And while locals say
they’re fi ne with law enforcement
and emergency
services buzzing overhead,
the plague of high-fl ying fat
cats roaming the skies has
got to stop, according to one
area park steward.
“If the police have a reason
to be here, that’s fi ne,
but it seems like it’s sightseers
— it’s so constant,” said
Tova Potosky, president of
the Cadman Park Conservancy.
In an effort to stymie the
awful racket, residents have
extended their gripes to the
Brooklyn Heights Civic Association,
which in turn
has extended its support to
an upcoming bill sponsored
by three Kings County Congress
members to outlaw
“non-essential” helicopter
fl ights above the city’s airspace.
“It’s been bothering residents
and visitors to this
neighborhood for years,”
said the Brooklyn Heights
Association’s executive
director Lara Birnback.
“You’re really disturbed by
what seems like endless helicopter
noise.”
The bill, spearheaded
by representatives Carolyn
Maloney (D–Greenpoint),
Nydia Velazquez (D–Williamsburg),
and Jerrold
Nadler (D–Red Hook), will
ban most civilian fl ights
while still allowing trips in
the public interest, according
to Danielle Sumner, a
staffer for Maloney.
Under the law, there will
be a citywide ban on tourism
helicopters, chartered
helicopters for commuting
or executive travel, and private
helicopters.
The ban would also outlaw
Uber’s sky taxi, which
shuttles passengers from
Manhattan to JFK Airport
at upwards of $200 a pop, or
the company Blade, which
fl ies from the Big Apple
to airports and the Hamptons.
Exempt from the legislation
are fl ights for government,
military, law enforcement,
infrastructure
maintenance, emergency or
disaster response, research
and, most importantly, the
news — preserving Brooklyn
Paper’s dreams of someday
covering Kings County
from the skies!
The legislators planned
to introduce the bill at a
presser on Oct. 7, but had
to put the event on hold
last-minute after Maloney
fainted at a vigil earlier that
day and had to be hospitalized.
A spokeswoman for Uber
said it’s helicopter service
was never intended to be
permanent, and that the
true mission of Uber Air is
to generate data useful to the
planned futuristic sky car of
tomorrow!
“Copter is also meant to
be short term, generating
operational and technology
learnings for Uber Air
which will offer pooled rides
on quieter all electric, zero
emission eVTOLs,” said
Uber spokeswoman Susan
Hendrick.
Brooklyn Heights resident Roberto Gautier is fed up with noisy choppers swarming above the Promenade. Photo by Kevin Duggan
Perp on the lam despite false capture report
BY ROSE ADAMS
Cops falsely claimed
that an escaped robbery
suspect had been
re-apprehended after
slipping police custody
in handcuffs in Brooklyn
Heights on Monday
morning, and now say
the fugitive remains on
the lam.
Police were transporting
the suspect the 60th
Precinct in Coney Island
to Central Booking on
Schermerhorn Street between
Smith Street and
Boerum Place when he
escaped police custody a
little after 11 am, authorities
confirmed.
Cops claimed they’d
recaptured the man later
that day, before admitting
thier mistake Tuesday.
“Yesterday there was
a misunderstanding, but
he has not been apprehended,”
said Officer
Arlene Muniz, a spokeswoman
for the police department.
Cops originally
claimed that they found
and re-apprehended the
suspect sometime before
3:15 pm, but have since
reneged on that statement.
The wanted man —
who was arrested near
Coney Island on robbery
charges — slipped
police custody and fled
southbound on Court
Street near Atlantic Avenue
while still handcuffed,
according to social
crime-reporting app
Citizen .
Dozens of police cars
and helicopters canvassed
the area for
hours, and local schools
were put on lock-down
during the hunt, according
to Citizen.
The police vehicles
have now subsided, and
authorities have not
commented on the ongoing
search.
Cops described the
man as five-foot-nine,
with hair in cornrows,
a light beard and mustache.
He was last seen
wearing sky blue t-shirt
under a military green
track suit with orange
stripes.