11/19/2015
An article in The Broadsheet on the issue we deeply care about:
Spare the Blade
Proposed Law to Ban Helicopter Tours Moves
Ahead in City Council
Last Thursday (November 12), the City Council heard testimony on a package of bills, cosponsored by Margaret Chin (who represents Lower Manhattan), that intend to ban helicopter tourists flights in the five boroughs of New York City. (In practice, these measures would primarily affect Lower Manhattan, because that is the only location anywhere in New York City from which such flights still operate.)
As the hearing, before the Council's Environmental Protection Committee, opened, Ms. Chin said, "for the first time, New Yorkers dealing with the persistent and growing problem of helicopter noise have the opportunity to voice their concerns in an official forum. I ask that my colleagues in government hear their pleas for action and support our legislation to clear the skies over our homes, parks, and waterways of tourist helicopter flights."
"This is a crucial first step in solving a problem which the City has long ignored and indeed created -- the horrible noise and air pollution from nonessential tourist helicopter flights operating out of the City-owned Downtown Heliport," said John Dellaportas, president of Stop the Chop, a grassroots coalition of waterfront residents in Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey that is lobbying to scale back the tours.
Helicopter tourism flights have become a source of controversy for Lower Manhattan residents in recent years, who see a detriment to quality of life as well as a hazard to health and safety in the hundreds of flights that originate each day from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport (on South Street, near Coenties Slip) and ferry tourists up and down the Hudson River waterfront.
State Senator Daniel Squadron testified that, "nonessential tourist helicopters have become increasingly concentrated in a few neighborhoods in the city. Under a 1997 decision by then-Mayor Giuliani, upheld by a 1998 court ruling, the East 34th Street Heliport eliminated tourist helicopter operations. In 2010, a lawsuit settlement also eliminated nonessential tourist helicopter operations from the 30th Street Heliport on the West Side. Because of both of these developments, all tourist helicopter flights in Manhattan originate and conclude at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport."
"In other words," Senator Squadron continued, "Downtown and the neighborhoods in the chop zone now endure the entire impact of tourist flights, even though only a fraction as much chop was unacceptable in other neighborhoods as far back as 1997."
Critics of helicopter tourism point out that the City's own 1999 Heliport and Helicopter Master Plan (which made permanent the East 34th Street Heliport's tourist helicopter ban), said "Air tours... are not viewed as transportation and will not be supported at City-owned facilities."
The measures under consideration by the City Council aim to ban the two categories of helicopters that are deemed to be the loudest and emit the highest levels of air pollution. (These are called "Stage 1" and "Stage 2" helicopters.) A second bill would also ban the use of so-called "Stage 3" helicopters, subject to approval by the federal government's Secretary of Transportation. These bills would affect only the helicopter tourism business, and flights related to public safety, including those operated by police, fire, and other emergency services, would be unaffected by the legislation.
"We should not be protecting a single tourist experience at the expense of the quality of life and safety of New York residents along the tourist helicopter flight paths," said U.S. Congressman Jerry Nadler.
"When sightseeing helicopters buzz over our streets, a handful of people are inflicting a ton of extra noise and pollution on tens or even hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers," said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.
"The Downtown Manhattan Heliport continues to plague our community with noise, air quality and threat to safety. Of all the communities in the country, we are the most sensitive to the danger of low-flying aircraft. Residents have seen up to eight helicopters landing and taking off simultaneously in the restricted small area of Pier 6 making it one of the most heavily congested heliports in the country," said Catherine McVay Hughes, chair of Manhattan Community Board 1.
Matthew Fenton
Photo Courtesy of William Alatriste/ New York City Council
Photos:
City Council member Margaret Chin (at podium), U.S. Congressman Jerry Nadler (center) and Community Board 1 chair Catherine McVay Hughes at a City Hall rally held last Thursday to demand an end to helicopter tourism in local skies. After the rally, the City Council heard testimony on a proposed measure that would permanently ground the flights.