Thursday, May 31, 2012

City killing birds at JFK but building bird magnet at LGA


From WPIX:

After U.S. Airways Flight 1549 cruised to a perfect splash landing and Captain "Sully" Sullenberger made sure all 150 people got off the plane alive, passengers started paying attention to just how deadly birds over an airport can be.

But now the F.A.A. is turning a blind eye to the problem, basically saying in a federal court of appeals today that their hands are tied to stop potentially deadly bird strikes at LaGuardia Airport.

The problem all stems over New York's City's bid to build a giant trash transfer station across Flushing Bay. It's close to finished--and no one seems to be able to stop it.

Anyone who's ever seen trash in action knows it's a magnet for birds, which see it as food. New York City has been embroiled in an on-going fight to get its North Shore Transfer Station, which will host 3,500 tons daily of New York garbage just 700 yards from LaGuardia's runways, up and running. It's largely built now, and should be on-line within a year.

Randy Mastro is a former Deputy Mayor for the City of New York. He's an attorney too. "That's a grave concern. It's a disaster waiting to happen. It's a monumentally bad idea," intoned Mastro, pulling no punches.

And now he's going up against the F.A.A. in court to point out since they give NYC millions of dollars a year to run and build stuff at LaGuardia, they can tell NYC not to put a trash facility really near by, bringing in flocks of killer birds.

But the F.A.A. doesn't see it that way. Their lawyers argued in court today that NYC doesn't actually own LaGuardia. The land under LaGuardia, sure. But not the airport. Therefore, the F.A.A. can't tell the City what to do to keep passengers safe. And yes, you guessed where this is going, the F.A.A. won't hold the Port Authority (they run the airport) accountable either. For some similarly inscrutable reasons.

Bottom line: The F.A.A., which doles out hundreds of millions in tax dollars every year (your money), won't tell a city that what it's doing is possibly endangering lives. Because of some really difficult to understand funding/accountability rules.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is crazy! But what do you expect? The city's mayor has a bird brain, if one at all!!!

Anonymous said...

If the trash is in the open, it will attract birds. If its locked up in containers, it won't. Once the trucks arrive, do they have procedures to keep the birds from detecting the trash and entering the facility. Does the crew police the barge of stray trash? It all depends on operational details.

Anonymous said...

If you've ever visited one of the city's existing waste transfer stations, you'd know that the bird issue is not relevant here. The garbage is transferred indoors, and the transfer platform is cleared multiple times during the day, precisely to prevent unwanted animals... including rats and pigeons and gulls... from congregating. A single commercial dumpster typically has more gulls than a well-run waste transfer station.

This is a cover for plain old-fashioned NIMBYism... This community wants to have other neighborhoods bear their burden for their trash... It's frankly environmental racism. The city's solid waste management plan is a fair and equitable solution to handling the city's trash and should be allowed to be completed.

Anonymous said...

We'll let you know if it's NIMBYism when a plane eventually crashes at
La Guardia.

It's going to happen. Wait and see.

Anonymous said...

Didn't CB#7 approve the transfer station in College Point?

Then we know the plan is flawed
from the get go.

I wonder if Chuck Apelian got another printing contract out of the deal.

We already know that Gene Kelty can be bought off much cheaper with just a few rounds of drinks.

Anonymous said...

If you've ever visited one of the city's existing waste transfer stations, you'd know that the bird issue is not relevant here. The garbage is transferred indoors, and the transfer platform is cleared multiple times during the day, precisely to prevent unwanted animals... including rats and pigeons and gulls... from congregating. A single commercial dumpster typically has more gulls than a well-run waste transfer station.
------------------------------------------------

I'll bet you wish you weren't born brain dead! I guess the trucks, sitting in traffic, won't attract flying vermin. AND you're assuming the facility will be well run. HA!!!

I agree with a previous contributor, It's not if, it's when. Many of us are in LaGuardia flight plans putting us at risk and not just those poor souls on board a crashed jet with its engines stuffed with bird.

Anonymous said...

i saw a report on fox business news ,gerri willis, today.

many windfarms wind mills are killing many eagles and as many as 70 birds in one year, at one farm????

can this be true and why is not the M.S.M reporting this sad news ?

Anonymous said...

Garbage is garbage...
either covered or uncovered.

Birds are attracted to its stench!

Try another lie.

That one stinks worse than fish.

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