Queens Residents Fed Up With Noise Following Change In Flight Patterns At JFK, LaGuardia
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A rally was held Sunday afternoon concerning traffic not in, but over Queens.
Residents who live near LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport say flight patterns instituted several years ago have upped the noise level to unbearable levels.
The rally was held at Cunningham Park in the Oakland Gardens section of Queens.
The President of Queens Quiet Skies, Janet McEneaney, told 1010 WINS if you're under one of the flight paths, you think of nothing else.
"It has made our lives impossible," she said. "You cannot have a conversation in your living room. People's walls shake, you can't hear the TV. Forget about sitting out in your back yard in the summer."
McEneaney said there have been no studies to see how the new flight patterns would affect the neighborhoods and homes they're flying over.
"Nobody knows what the effects are going to be of all this additional, increased pollution from the planes," she said.
In a statement, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said "At Governor (Andrew) Cuomo's direction, the Port Authority has been enhancing its efforts to address the aircraft noise concerns of Nassau and Queens residents living in close proximity to JFK and LaGuardia airports.
"In recent months, we have created noise roundtables to bring together the Federal Aviation Administration, the Port Authority, elected officials and community and to discuss noise problems, unveiled a feature on the PA's website that allows residents to track planes and decibel levels over their communities and deployed more noise monitors around both airports to help collect additional data."
Additionally, the Port Authority said it is on the verge of selecting a consulting group to help execute Gov. Cuomo's request for federal Part 150 noise studies at LaGuardia and JFK to decide what steps may be possible to help alleviate specific noise issues.
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