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Rep. Israel: Long Island Communities 'Tormented' By JFK Air Traffic Noise

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)Rep. Steve Israel is demanding officials reduce the amount of flights coming in and out of a specific runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Israel told 1010 WINS communities in his congressional district on the north shore of Long Island are being "tormented" by noise from planes and says it is not in accordance with an agreement signed 14 years ago in an effort to reduce the noise.

"Now what really disturbs me is that the FAA helped broker an agreement all the way back in 2000 to mitigate that noise and the result is a 36 percent increase," Israel said.

Israel said that between 2012 and 2013, arrivals into runway 22 between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., have increased by 36 percent.

"The FAA has just stood idly by while the situation has been exacerbated and that is just not acceptable," Israel said.

"You hear the planes at all hours of the day and night. I can't be in my backyard in the afternoon in the summer because the planes are so loud," one Garden City resident told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall in October 2012. "I've actually joked with people I'm on the phone with to say, 'I promise I'm not on the runway at Kennedy Airport.'"

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