Letter to the Editor: Queens Quiet Skies Founder Gives Update on Airplane Noise

Janet McEneaney is a Community Board 11 member who, in 2012, founded Queens Quiet Skies to fight airplane noise stemming from a new flight path out of LaGuardia Airport.

Patch has printed her letter to the editor below that gives updates on the effort to halt the airplane noise over northeast Queens.

Dear Neighbors,

Thanks to all of you who have become members of Queens Quiet Skies and have volunteered to work for our organization.

Our goals: Queens Quiet Skies has four major goals: (1) establishing a community aviation roundtable that operates according to a written agreement as we have proposed in a draft Memorandum of Understanding, (2) implementing a Part 150 contour study to determine noise compatibility with land use around the airports in Queens, (3) installing an adequate number of noise meters on and around the airport runways and (4) implementing an FAA Supplementary Environmental Impact Study to determine the impact on our communities of the Northeast Airspace Redesign and the NextGen program. 

A status report: As you know, we have been distributing the draft Memorandum of Understanding for the proposed aviation roundtable and it has been getting a good reception. Reps. Steve Israel and Grace Meng, Sen. Tony Avella and Assembly member Edward Braunstein met with FAA officials last month about the categorical exclusion that the FAA gave to itself, rather than performing an environmental study in the NY/NJ metro area (the kind of study that has been or will be implemented in all other airspaces throughout the United States).

As a result of that meeting, the FAA will work with several members of our task force in the next month to review that decision. 

There is good news in the New York State Legislature about the proposed Part 150 contour study. A bill sponsored by AM Titus and supported by many other members from Queens and Nassau will reach the floor of the Assembly for a vote this week. It is identical to bills sponsored by Sens. Avella, Hannon and Martins. The Hannon bill, carrying a lower number, was the bill that was voted on and passed earlier this session in the State Senate. The bill provides as follows: 

1. The Port Authority shall conduct a noise and land use compatibility study. Such study shall be conducted in the manner outlined by federal aviation regulations as set forth in 14 code of federal regulations, Part 150, and shall recommend operational and land use measures to improve the compatibility of air terminals with surrounding land uses.

2. The Port Authority shall submit to the governors and legislatures of each state a report detailing the Port Authority's findings pursuant to the study required by this article. The Port Authority shall make such report available to the public by June 1, 2014.

3. The Port Authority shall hold biennial public hearings, at which members of the public shall have the right to be heard regarding the identification of aircraft noise issues. Such public hearings shall be held in the counties of Kings, Queens and Nassau, state of New York, and in the counties of Union and Essex, state of New Jersey, and shall be attend by at least one commissioner appointed by each state. The Port Authority shall develop amendments and changes to the report required by this article as may be necessary and practicable to address public input.

This is a major development for us. It was the result of our efforts as well as those of our neighbors throughout Queens and Nassau. In addition to the good work done on our behalf by so many of our state Senators and Assembly Members, I also want to thank Borough President Helen Marshall for the letter she sent in support of the Part 150 study. 

This coming week is the final week of the current legislative session. In order for this bill to become law, it must be passed by the Assembly this week or all these efforts will have to begin again next fall.

That’s why we suggest that you tell your Assembly Member that you want to see bill #A07697 pass this week. For those who like to read all the details, click on this link to an explanation of Part 150 compatibility studies. 

Helicopter complaints: We have been getting complaints about increased noise from helicopter traffic over Queens. Please let us know if you are experiencing this. 

Port Authority noise complaints: Filing noise complaints with the Port Authority is very important and it’s something everyone can do. There is a link to the Port Authority’s complaint page on our website. When you fill in the form, check off "too frequent" and then write in the comment box "too loud, too low, too frequent" and the approximate number of flights, time of day and seconds or minutes apart in time. 

Once you have made a complaint on the internet, the PA will automatically send you an e-mail to acknowledge your complaint. We have an e-mail address – QQSNoise@aol.com – to receive those acknowledgment e-mails from the Port Authority. We set up this e-mail address so we can collect the complaints. Please either forward the acknowledgment e-mails from the Port Authority to the QQSNoise address or, if you want, use that address instead of your own on the complaint form so that the acknowledgment will automatically be sent to the QQSNoise address. 

Remind our U.S. Senators that we want action: Let’s also keep reminding our U.S. Senators that we want a community aviation roundtable as proposed by Queens Quiet Skies, adequate noise meters on and around the runways and an FAA environmental impact study of the NE Airspace Redesign and Next Gen.

Their phone numbers are: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: 212-688-6262 and Senator Charles Schumer: 212-486-4430. 

Our website, QueensQuietSkies.org, has a lot of information. It’s easy to refer your friends and neighbors there so they can understand what’s going on. Thanks for everything you do. It may sometimes feel frustrating to keep making the noise complaints and doing all the other tasks we are doing.  We will not win this battle overnight, but we are getting good results and moving forward on all our goals.

Sincerely,
Janet McEneaney