Wednesday, August 28, 2013

"Noise torture" in Bayside


From WPIX:

All was quiet in Bayside Queens on Monday. This is rare because residents like Cecilia Cody say it is normally filled with, “Noise torture, that’s what it is.”

Cody has lived here for the past thirty-five years. However, it was only until recently that her nightly ritual started requiring a soft touch to block out the sounds overhead, “I put in earplugs to go to sleep. This is what we are left to deal with, it’s simply horrendous.”

What she is referring to is the sound from airliners utilizing a “TNNIS 4″ climb out of LaGuardia’s Runway 13. On Monday, major carriers were making their ascents in the opposite direction.

However, ever since early 2012 there has been a dramatic uptick in traffic heading over Bayside Queens and the surrounding areas due to the FAA opting to utilize a flying procedure called “TNNIS 4″ climbs.

Assemblyman Ed Braunstein lives in the district and is trying to change the pattern that become more prevalent more than 18-months ago. According to Braunstein, on certain days the takeoffs begin early, “Starting at 6:00 a.m. you can set your watch to it. You’ll have a plane going off once a minute.”

FAA imagery shows what the “TNNIS 4″ climbs look like compared to the Whitestone and Flushing climb in side-by-side imaging. The trajectory of the “TNNIS 4″ Climb is much more concentrated and the repeated ascents more accurate. The pink area that completely covers the map in one section reflect the ascents that are right on top of one another.

The reason for this is due to RNAV equipped aircraft which has improved settings and navigation.

According to a report, this is about de-conflicting airspace.

Assemblyman Braunstein agrees, adding, “It’s really the flight traffic at JFK drives the flight traffic at LaGuardia.”

However, what Assemblyman Braunstein along with other politicians at the local, state, and federal level are hoping for, is that the FAA conducts a study utilizing monitors on the ground to identify if measures need to be taken regarding the aforementioned, “noise torture.”

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can we address the truck noise next? Semis now rumble through Flushing all day long - esp. on 164th Street. This never used to happen.

Why are huge trucks making deliveries to crappy little supermarkets like Marino's? C'mon it's not Whole Foods - it's just shitty industrial food - white bread and orange soda - with an Italian deli counter.

About 30 trucks deliver on a daily basis and leave their engines idling. Between the engines, the refrigeration and the bullshit salsa music and the Latinos screaming at one another it's become impossible!

There's lots of noise torture here on the ground as well! I bet that 311 will get right on it - ha!

Anonymous said...

NYC makes lots of noise about noise - but it seems, as usual, enforcement is not a thing for the outer boroughs (except Park Slope & Billyburg). Check the NY Times - over the weekend they ran a piece in the Magazine about noise. Studies have connected noise to behaviour problems (right into the autism range...) - kids learn to tune out. Other studies have shown that exposure to noise in utero changes the very architecture of the brain. Planes, trucks... how about those dam,n back-up alarms? Noise at construction sites is regulated, but the regulations aren't enforced. And if you're in one of the crazy neighborhoods that mixes R and M zoning, there's nothing stopping 24-7 operations. Zoning "Performance Standards" are good on paper, but mean nothing in practice. DEPs enforcement of the Noise Code is non-existent. And we wonder why our kids have problems? This is certainly part of it... start with the noise, and then show them that rules don't matter: recipe for JDs.

Anonymous said...

Planes are loud but Sunday I heard the crazy music coming from the west into North Flushing.
Are the giant speaker nuts at it again ?

Anonymous said...

C'mon it's not Whole Foods - it's just shitty industrial food - white bread and orange soda - with an Italian deli counter.

Yes, because small supermarkets can get their suppliers to run small extra quiet trucks just for them. Maybe they can get their milk delivery by cargo bike.