After nearly two years of silence, helicopters once again fly across the skies of New York. Photo: Ed Jones / AFP
After almost two years of silence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, helicopters loaded with tourists and executives have taken the skies over New York to despair of thousands of citizenss that flood the city’s complaints phone line with complaints. A law could leave them on the ground.
“With the largest helicopters, my apartment vibrates“complains Melissa Elstein, one of the perpetrators Stop Chop NY / NJ (Stop the Helicopters), an organization of noise-stricken volunteers struggling to banish non-essential flightslike the tourist ones and those used by millionaires.
“It’s a business model that shouldn’t exist,” he says.
A helicopter crosses the New York sky. Photo: Ed Jones / AFP
“They pollute the air, they have a negative impact on health,” he recalls before attacking the millionaires who “try to get to the airport a little faster, or to spend the weekends and vacation in the Hamptons“, an exclusive area of sumptuous palaces and beaches in the east of the state.
Earlier this month, the New York State Parliament passed the “Stop The Chop” bill, which it covers fines of up to $ 10,000 per day for companies that generate “sustained excessive noise”, and allows the prosecution to take action against those who violate the law.
If New York Governor Kathy Hochul ratified it – the last step in its entry into force – it would be the first law that attempts at the state level to reduce the noise generated by more than 30,000 annual flights of helicopters in the skies of New York.
The current text did not satisfy Stop the Chop NY / NJ. “It is the first step”, “but not what we expected”, its president, Andy Rosenthal, assures AFP, before warning: “The struggle continues”.
Many millionaires use helicopters to spend the weekend in the Hamptons. Photo: Archive
From 2020 to 2021, helicopter noise complaints at City Hall number 311 increased from 10,359 to 25,821. The majority (21,620) were from Manhattan.
noisy and polluting
“Lots of New Yorkers he can no longer work from the comfort of his homeenjoy a walk on the river, or your children take a nap, from the incessant noise and vibrations of non-essential helicopters, “said Senator Brad Hoylman, promoter of the law.
And it is that the noise of the helicopters is not only annoying, it is also “harmful to our health and our environment,” says the senator.
Added to this is the environmental pollution. A helicopter produces 43 times more CO2 per hour compared to a car.
The city has three active helipads: on 30th Street with the Hudson River (separated from the sidewalk and a bike path only by a metal fence) and on 34th Street with the East River, both used essentially for corporate and charter flightsand another in the Lower Manhattan Financial District from where the tourist flights.
In the exclusive Battery Park area at the southwestern tip of Manhattan, with stunning views of the Hudson River, the Statue of Liberty in the background and New Jersey opposite, the sky is a constant stream of helicopters and airplanes.
Most of the inhabitants have become accustomed to the abnormal decibel level of the area, already affected by the intense traffic and by the ferries that dock and depart from the nearby port.
For Mark Roberge, it is the “permanent background noise” that has become “part of the New York experience”.
In the background, the Statue of Liberty, in Battery Park, from where tourist flights depart. Photo: AFP / Chris Hondros / Getty Images / File
However, it is said that only essential flights should be allowed. “The tourist helicopters, flying low, they are dangerous and should be taken away“.
An agreement in 2016 between the New York mayor’s office and the industry in the sector, reduced from 60,000 to 30,000 the number of tourist flights and confined them to the airspace of the rivers that flank Manhattan, forcing them to rest on Sundays.
However, with a minimum price of approx $ 200 for a 15-20 minute flightthe “tourist visit” Air travel is a popular activity for tourists.
“This is something everyone should do in New York! Take a flight and enjoy the impressive views of the city. The prices are reasonable and the experience is memorable,” says Yanique on the page of Foursquare.com, a city guide .
The requested companies did not meet the AFP requirements.
By Ana Fernandez, AFP
ap
Source: Clarin
