Town-Village Aircraft Safety & Noise Abatement Committee

TOWN-VILLAGE AIRCRAFT SAFETY & NOISE ABATEMENT COMMITTEE One Washington Street, Hempstead, New York 11550 (516) 489-5000 x3296 – TVASNAC@tohmail.org Meeting Minutes Monday, June 28, 2021 In Attendance Carl Baessler, Village of Atlantic Beach (called in) Dan Plaut, Village of Cedarhurst (called in) Andrew Weiss, Village of Floral Park Laurence Quinn, Village of Garden City Akiva Lubin, Village of Lawrence (called in) Sean Wright, Village of Valley Stream James Vilardi, Executive Director James Vilardi asked Carol Renta to take attendance. In addition to committee members, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin was present and Tom Curry from Congresswoman Kathleen Rice’s office was present remotely. Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin thanked the committee for the important work they do on behalf of town residents who live near LaGuardia and JFK airports. Supervisor Clavin conveyed his appreciation to the committee for their unwavering commitment in meeting monthly, even remotely during the pandemic. The Supervisor advised the committee that he contacted Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Congressman Suozzi and Congresswoman Rice to ask they join with him and TVASNAC in sending a letter to the FAA requesting the appointment of a permanent, non-voting member to attend monthly meetings. The Supervisor further assured the members of his support in their efforts on behalf of Town of Hempstead residents. James Vilardi asked if the committee had reviewed the May 24, 2021 minutes; Andrew Weiss made a motion to approve the minutes, and Laurence Quinn second the motion. James Vilardi asked if the committee had reviewed the 2021/2022 budget; Laurence Quinn made a motion to approve the budget, and Sean Wright second the motion. Both motions were passed unanimously. Tom Curry advised the committee that Congresswoman Rice would be drafting her own letter to the FAA supporting our request to send a representative to TVASNAC’s monthly meetings, and after speaking with Justin Connor of Congressman Tom Suozzi’s office he is confident Congressman Suozzi would be doing the same. Tom Curry further stated he would discuss this with Mike Iannelli of Senator Schumer’s office and Michael Scheid of Senator Gillibrand’s office in the event the four officials wanted to all sign one letter collectively.  Tom Curry also stated that he believes Congresswoman Rice had sent a letter previously to Administrator Dickson about this issue and would send it to Carol Renta to distribute to the committee.  Carl Baessler commented that he reached out to Michael Scheid as well, and he stated he was going to pass this information onto the Senator. 1 James Vilardi stated that this is good news, and he anticipates we will have an FAA representative at future TVASNAC meetings. Once this happens, we can relay our suggestions and he/she can bring our ideas back to the FAA.  Andrew Weiss stated that something was said during the quarterly Round Table remote meeting last week by Veda Simmons who that was very troubling. Veda stated that as Ombudsman her job is title only, not a real job, she has a real job and this is just something she does in addition to the real job. Her job is to accept complaints and pass them onto the appropriate person or department within the FAA, but she does not personally answer complaints. She does not respond to anything. The FAA may send a representative to join us, but we should not expect that person to have any authority to say anything. It will be a one way street; that person will absorb and then bring back to the hierarchy to do whatever they are going to do. James Vilardi suggested we try and get a meeting with Administrator Dickson himself. Andrew Weiss advised that there is going to be a new regional FAA Administrator. Andrew has the name at home and will email it to the committee. Justin Connor from Congressman Suozzi’s office asked during the Round Table when the FAA was going to notify us; the NY Regional Administrator is leaving and a new one is coming in and they literally just mentioned it last week. James Vilardi asked Tom Curry how we would go about proposing using air space over the water, which is probably restricted military air space. Is it possible to apply for permission to have commercial airliners fly over this space and who do we go to? The goal being less planes over land and more over water.  Tom Curry commented that is a brand new idea he has never heard of until now. Tom will bring this idea up to the Congresswoman, and perhaps they can broach this with the Quiet Skies Caucus and see if anyone has any ideas.  Andrew Weiss stated that when we spoke about this at our last meeting, he mentioned having a friend who is retired Air Force. The friend basically told Andrew that from a military prospective, it depends on how the space is being used. If the air space is being used for training, we may have a shot of this working. If the air space is being used for operational patrols to make sure the country is safe, it probably will not happen. That was the friend’s take on it. Andrew asked how we would find out what the military is doing with that air space, and the friend stated we would have to find out who issued the orders to stay out of that space. This information would come from Tracon since they control the planes – we have to find out who told them not to put any planes in that air space.  Tom Curry replied that he did not know the answer, but would find out.  James Vilardi thanked Tom for looking into this as any information in this area would be helpful. James Vilardi stated that if planes are moving from one neighborhood they are going to another, unless they are going over the water. This is the only way we can get the noise away from the neighborhood, and it seems the FAA is reluctant. It seems they want to distribute the air noise as best they can.  Tom Curry suggested distributing the air noise is probably not the FAA’s concern. Their main concerns are how to get as many planes in as possible and in a safe manner. If that manner means using the same pattern over and over again, that is what they are going to do  Andrew Weiss agreed with Tom, and stated that based on conversations with the FAA – their positon is not to fan out the planes. They do not want to help one neighborhood at the expense of another. James Vilardi reiterated that we have to come up with concrete suggestions on how the FAA can change their policies and procedures to benefit the people we represent. 2 Andrew Weiss stated that we should start with the ideas we came up with in January:  Strengthen our relationships with our federal elected officials and use these partnerships to more effectively advocate our positions to the FAA, through meetings, legislation and other means.  Advocate for the use of the “glide slope” rather than “step down” method for aircraft arriving at JFK Airport. This will allow aircraft approaching JFK to remain higher when flying over our communities and reduce the noise caused by engine thrust.  Advocate for more equitable distribution of approaching and departing flights, thereby reducing the noise impact that is currently disproportionately felt by certain communities. Carol Renta informed the committee that she was contacted by Majority Leader Richard Nicollelo’s counsel notifying us that the Legislator is interested in getting involved and contacting the proper authorities to advocate for residents in reducing airplane traffic/noise.  James Vilardi was happy to hear this and suggested that perhaps Legislator Nicollelo will sign onto letter with Supervisor Clavin and TVASNAC and perhaps send a representative to our meetings as well. They may have some ideas we have not thought of yet. Tom Curry stated that he spoke with the Transportation Legislative Assistants last week, and is going to find out when Grace Meng intends to introduce the bill that would reinstate the Office of Noise and Abatement Control for the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, instead of the FAA and Port Authority taking airplane noise complaints, it’s actually the EPA taking the complaints since it’s not just an annoyance, it’s a health issue. It’s important that the EPA has those statistics and metrics available to them. Congresswoman Rice will be an original co-sponsor of this bill and will see if she can get this passed in the House.  James Vilardi asked when that committee abolished.  Tom Curry replied that the office was created in the ‘70’s, and he believes closed in the 90’s, but will confirm.  The committee agreed this could be really good. James Vilardi asked Tom Curry what else the committee could do that would be effective  Tom Curry stated that the first thing is to get a representative from the FAA to hear TVASNAC’s complaints. We want to make sure the complaints are being heard by the people who can actually make changes, which is why Congresswoman Rice has been pushing for this type of change for at least two years. Tom continued on that what Andrew said about Veda Simmons before, is disheartening because Congresswoman Rice’s team fought to have that position included in the FAA administration three years ago, and for someone to say this is not their real position is offensive. We fought for that position for constituents to make sure they got their complaints across. Congresswoman Rice will make this a point in her letter to the FAA.  Andrew Weiss replied that he was taken back by her statement that “she would not respond to complaints,” because then it’s no difference than leaving a voicemail for someone in the FAA. Andrew stated that he would check his notes and let us know exactly what he wrote down that she said at the Round Table so as not to miscommunicate her words. James Vilardi asked if anyone had any items to add. Hearing none, Sean Wright called for the meeting to be adjourned and Laurence Quinn second the motion. Prepared by: Carol Renta Secretary, TVASNAC 3