Airplane Noise Hearing today at 2:00, Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston

[fefie.livejournal.com]

[Forwarded from the city's ResiStat mailing list.]

Dear Members of the ResiStat community:

I wanted to share some important information we just received concerning the aircraft noise issue here in Somerville.  On Wednesday, June 3, 2009, at 2:00 pm at Courtroom 1017, Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, Somerville’s attorneys will appear with other parties to make a Motion to Re-Open the Runway 14/32 litigation. It would be helpful if as many Somerville residents as possible made an appearance at the actual hearing.  (Suffolk Superior Court is located at Three Pemberton Square, right behind the office building fronting 100 Cambridge Street in Boston, which is directly across the street from Boston’s City Hall Plaza.   It is accessible by walking from the MBTA’s Park Street station; the Government Center Green Line station is even closer.  Additionally, there is parking beside the Suffolk County Courthouse at the Center Plaza Garage.)

The City’s argument will be that Runway 14/32, which opened in November 2006, is being used in ways that are in conflict with a limited use restriction that it was to be used only during significant wind events.  As a result, the FAA and Massport are in violation of the 2004 court order that allowed 14/32 construction to proceed.  The theory – for which we believe we have solid evidence – is that the FAA has started using 14/32 in a new runway configuration designed to reduce ground congestion and delay, which in turn has led to a sharp increase in the number of  takeoffs from Runway 33L (which sends traffic directly over Somerville).


If you can attend yourself, and encourage others to attend, it will be helpful to the cause of noise relief.  Please spread the word.

Thomas P. Champion
Director of Communications
City of Somerville
tel 617-625-6600 ext.2620
fax 617-776-8061
tchampion@somervillema.gov
www.somervillema.gov

Comments

Isn't this going to piss off....

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Some of the snark folks here? LOL.

I'm all for this but 2PM on a Wed...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Not everybody is unemployed. Not yet.

Understood, but it's a court hearing

[ron_newman]

and courts are normally in session only during the day.

Re: Understood, but it's a court hearing

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, all sorts of hearing and public meetings only take place during the day, which is a problem.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

The problem is, the actual Somerville residents who care about this will probably not impress the court. Especially if they're allowed to speak. We might get turned into a bombing range!

[cold-type.livejournal.com]

Plus, many Somerville residents think it's ridiculous that the city is spending taxpayer money to ask the FAA to order airplanes to fly over Medford or some other city instead.

[treebeardy.livejournal.com]

yeah, planes gotta fly over somewhere right? I don't see what makes us so special

[davelew.livejournal.com]

Somerville is the most densely populated municipality in New England, and the 17th most densely populated in the US. That's part of what makes Somerville special.

There is a court case with a ruling that alows use of runway 33L only during significant wind events. The airport has been ignoring that case. That's part of what makes airplane noise over Somerville special.

Finally, Somerville has seven hills and many natural amphitheatres. If you live on the good side of a hill, you might not hear any airplane noise. This doesn't mean that you should prevent your neighbors from complaining about problems they are having.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Good points. The worst of the noise takes place over East Somerville, from what I understand. I've not followed this ongoing issue closely (and having lived in East Boston years ago I'm fairly immune to airplane noise myself)
but as I recall the new runway (33L) was identified by locals as having a potential negative impact on certain neighborhoods of Somerville *before* 33L opened in 2006. The outcry then fell on deaf ears, so to speak.

Some background on the situation can be found here:
http://www.somervillestep.org/2007/07/more_plane_nois.html

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

We're rich and white?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

This. As far as I can tell, all this does is push traffic onto other neighborhoods that are either not organized enough nor prosperous enough to fight a court battle over it.

And no, not every plane can fly in over the ocean.

But those who are against

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Are also the keyboard warrior types who will never show up for an actual action meeting (unless booze and snacks are served). There were plenty of not so articulate Somerville residents at the early Green Line meetings. Even if the arguments were not very polished and delivered like John Edwards might have, the real frustration and problems deriving from lack of public transportation were obvious. It will be the same in this case. Anybody who can show up today should show up.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Dear frickin' gawds..... the city is slashing cops and firefighters and is crying poor and it's been spending how many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on attorney's fees because of this?

I mean, damn.... yeah, on some days planes fly over, but this isn't like East Boston back in the 70s, where at my grandmother's house on Saratoga St, planes came about 200' over her neighborhood every 45 seconds almost every single day.

And have any of these NIMBYs spent any time over in Dorchester or Southie?

This is just an embarrassment, it really really is.

[miraclaire.livejournal.com]

And have any of these NIMBYs spent any time over in Dorchester or Southie?

I agree, it's way worse at my parents' house (in Dorchester). I think I've only heard planes a couple times since I moved to Somerville (4 years ago). It's really just not that bad here.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Living in Savin Hill I can safely say there was nary a whole hour of the day from 6 am to midnight where I didn't hear plane noise, and given its proximity to the airport, the plane noise was a LOT louder, too.

[miraclaire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not even as bad as that where I grew up (St. Mark's area)

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I want to know why no one is fighting a court battle to prevent semi trucks from driving by my house on Broadway. They make a lot more noise, they're a lot more frequent AND they pollute the air in front of my house!

[davelew.livejournal.com]

Did a new highway just open up that sends trucks by your house? Was there a recent agrement in which it was promised that trucks would go by your house ~7% of the time and they really go by your house ~25% of the time?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Just because Somervillians were around to play the NIMBY game when the runway was built doesn't really make the game any more ok.

And frankly the trucks are a much bigger problem than the airplane noise, even if no one ever had the foresight to ban them when they built the road (or when they invented semi trucks, since I'm betting the road came first).

Now the truth comes out. Finally.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Since your crappy house is in the middle of Broadway pollution and noise, then everybody else in Somerville has to accept pollution and noise, even if they violate agreed upon stipulations. That completely explains your behavior.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

It's funny though because I almost instinctively checked the Davis_Square community after I heard the first flyover at like 10:30 last night. :-)

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Every time I hear a plane fly over I want to snark, I really really do. But I'm in treatment now and supposedly gotten better. Finding Jesus has really done wonders. He's sitting in Row 1 in first class.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

And he's flying over Somerville RIGHT NOW!!!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Me too! They've been going over for days, but the weather made the noise especially loud last night. They go over all the time. People only complain on the one in 30 days when it's loud.

Proud of Curtatone, actually.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Way to go.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to go to show support for the airport.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

and a lack of support for your neighbors? How very civic-minded of you.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

I think my neighbors are a bunch of whiners.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

This neighbor would rather see our resources go toward something else.

[eeyorecol.livejournal.com]

THIS

Yup, the Somerville fireworks, for example.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

...

[ckd]

Clearly the airport made a mistake, and instead of trying to "reduce ground congestion and delay", they should have been increasing both! Maybe Somerville could sponsor signs by the taxiways saying "THIS DELAY BROUGHT TO YOU BY davis_square".

[davelew.livejournal.com]

How did the opening of runway 33L affect delays at Logan? My experience is that there have been no noticeable differences in delays at Logan since the new runway opened. Has your experience been different? Or do you just take the government at their word and assume that they have your best interests at heart?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

As the OP put it:

The theory – for which we believe we have solid evidence – is that the FAA has started using 14/32 in a new runway configuration designed to reduce ground congestion and delay

This would seem to suggest that reducing delays is at least what they were trying to accomplish, and it doesn't look like anyone's planning to say that it had no impact on delays.

[jovianconsensus.livejournal.com]

"The theory – for which we believe we have solid evidence – is that the FAA has started using 14/32 in a new runway configuration designed to reduce ground congestion and delay, which in turn has led to a sharp increase in the number of takeoffs from Runway 33L"

It looks like ckd is taking Somerville at its word.

[dirtyknees.livejournal.com]

I can't be the only person who giggles every time she/he reads the phrase "significant wind events."

[versonic.livejournal.com]

::bangs head against wall::

Please. Please. Please. Make this whole argument stop.

Simple solution:

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Unplug computer.

Re: Simple solution:

[versonic.livejournal.com]

Yes, good solution. Stop communicating on the Internet because of one thing. Genius, really.

Re: Simple solution:

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

What, are you an internet addict or something? :)

Re: Simple solution:

[versonic.livejournal.com]

::shifty eyes::

It has actually been suggested by more than one person that I go to counseling.

No, I'm not joking.

Yes, I realize it's sad.

Re: Simple solution:

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

That's fine. I'm a total psycho myself. You definitely would not want to meet me :)

[purpless77.livejournal.com]

I can't believe this is going this far, what a waste. If people can't take plane noise move further from the airport, simple as that. My entire life here I have always heard planes fly over. As kids it was fun to spot a plane. Sometimes they are very frequent and [GASP] make a sound. But not loud enough to be considered a disturbance. You don't move some where knowing it's close to an airport, then complain about the noise. Live some where else. Imagine if everybody who heard a plane complained, we'd either, have no airport or leave the complainers with choices, deal or move. I like the latter option better. Especially considering they should be well aware that Somerville is near an airport and that it comes with the territory. Nobody is forcing these fools to stay.
If the airport wasn't there then there were plans to build one, I could understand. But they chose to live here.

And nobody forces the other fools to read this thread.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Right?