Dear Stop the Chop NY/NJ friends and supporters,
We hope this email finds you safe and well this holiday week!
Here are this week's important updates!
NEW HELICOPTER STUDY BY SEN. HOYLMAN RELEASED!
Just this week, NY State Senator Brad Hoylman (representing a large part of Manhattan including UWS, Chelsea, Hells Kitchen, Midtown, LES neighborhoods) released his "The Nuisance of Tourist Choppers" Report and I highly recommend you read it in its entirety: https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/articles/2022/brad-hoylman/senator-hoylman-releases-report-quantifying-nyc-helicopter
The Report, which focuses on tourism/sightseeing helicopters versus commuter choppers, confirms what those of us along the sightseeing pathways have unfortunately been experiencing with our own eyes and ears. Using data from BetaNYC (an organization that analyzes 311 complaints and flight tracking apps), it revealed "startling" results that corroborate our complaints that "non-essential helicopters are a constant presence in [our] lives", due to the fact that "[o]ver 168 helicopters fly over Manhattan on an average weekend, approximately one every nine minutes during peak hours."
Additionally, the Report indicates that nearly "half of the helicopters overhead take off and land in New Jersey" and [n]one of the top six helicopter charter companies are registered in New York State" - therefore offering "no economic benefit to New York City or State."
Finally, the Report (based on Beta.NYC's heat maps) demonstrates that residents in Hoylman's district living along the Hudson River "shoulder the burden of the noise these flights generate." I would note that this is because the 30,000 NYC-based tourist helicopters that originate from the Seaport's "Downtown Manhattan Heliport" only fly up and down the Hudson after circling the NY Harbor; commuter helicopters use the Hudson River; and the tourist choppers from New Jersey or Westchester use the Hudson River before cutting across the UWS to photograph Central Park. It's a triple whammy!!! The Hudson River literally has become a hellish helicopter highway.
WE THANK SEN. HOYLMAN, HIS OFFICE, AND BETA NYC FOR PRODUCING THIS IMPORTANT REPORT!
WE URGE ELECTEDS WHO REPRESENT CONSTITUENTS SUFFERING PRIMARILY FROM COMMUTER HELICOPTERS TO SIMILARLY PREPARE A REPORT BASED ON THE DATA!
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GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL VETOED THE "STOP THE CHOP" BILL:
This week, many of you saw in the press that the Stop the Chop Bill introduced by NY State Senator Brad Hoylman and NY Assemblymember Dick Gottfried and passed by the NY Legislature was vetoed by Gov. Hochul. We supported this bill, even though it had been edited and diluted since its original introduction, but we also knew it was a going to be a hurdle in terms of its passage. We rallied all of you and thank you for your emails, phone calls and tweets to the Governor. Your voices were definitely heard, but ultimately the issue of aircraft noise is mainly a federal issue under the FAA's jurisdiction due to a law enacted in 1990: ANCA - "The Airport Noise and Capacity Act"; as well as FAA regulations and federal case law. The main part of the Stop the Chop bill created a novel cause of action that would have allowed New Yorkers and the NY Attorney General to sue tourist helicopters that were non-NYC based under a noise nuisance claim through an amendment to the NY General Obligations Law. (See www.stopthechopnynj.org/legislation
However, ANCA has been applied very broadly by the Courts to give issues over aircraft noise to the federal agencies because Congress's ANCA findings were that "community noise concerns have led to uncoordinated and inconsistent restrictions on aviation that could impede the national air transportation system;" and "a noise policy must be carried out at the national level."
We had been hopeful that this novel and creative nuisance noise cause of action in the Stop the Chop bill would have been signed into law, along with the Governor's acknowledgment of the suffering many of us are experiencing due to the tourist helicopters, and then the bill could have made its way through the court system for a final decision on its legality. But even though we are disappointed, we are not giving up on our mission and clearly neither is Senator Hoylman (see his statement below and his Report above)!
By the way, there was quite a bit of confusion in the press and social media about the rest of the bill and that was in part because the bill had been edited from its original version but the "purpose or general idea of the bill" and "summary" of the bill had NOT been edited and so they describe the first version - and not the bill that was on the Governor's desk.
Also, note that all tourist flights are already banned from operating from the West 30th Street Heliport since April 1, 2010 per the 2008 "Settlement & Agreement" in the lawsuit "Friends of the Hudson River Park et al v. Hudson River Park Trust, Air Pegasus Heliport and Liberty Helicopters Inc." The bill would have codified that court settlement that has been in effect for over 10 years. So the bill would not have reduced the number of tourist flights with that regard. (Sometimes sightseeing helicopters use the West 30th St. Heliport for refueling and that is allowed).
This bill would not have closed the Heliport but would have it eventually moving onto a floating structure in the Hudson River alongside the Hudson River Park between W. 29 - 32 streets. (Currently the heliport is not on a pier).
In conclusion, although the bill was vetoed, we are very encouraged by Senator Hoylman's pronouncement in his press release regarding the Hochul veto: "In the new legislative session in Albany, I plan to redouble my efforts to limit chopper flights over our communities. I will be introducing legislation to amend the Hudson River Park Act to close the West 30th Street heliport in the Hudson River Park.”
We fully support that plan!!!
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Enjoy safe and festive holidays and stay tuned for more updates soon - we have received some great coverage in the news, and I will include those in the next newsletter.
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Best,
Melissa Elstein, STCNYNJ Board Chair, Secretary & Coalition Organizer
http://www.stopthechopnynj.org