A Poll About Air Traffic

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I know matters are not this simple. Clearly it's not simply a question of either/or... but, as a sort of thought experiment, I'm curious how people here would feel about the following:

A few years ago Handscom Airforce Base in Concord started opening up to commercial traffic. There was a huge push-back, both from the residents of Concord, but also from those whose interest was in the Walden Pond State Reservation, and the Minuteman National Historical Park and Wildlife Refuge. But there are commercial flights out of there now, with increased road traffic to and from the airport, etc. Periodically their license to run commercial flights, and how many, will come up for review.

*If* it was a simple matter of this or that, which would you prefer?
(Radio Buttons, because, while yes, "it depends" and "neither" (or "both") are all valid points, for the purposes of a straight opinion poll, we'll push it to an either/or anyway.)

[Poll #1499801]

Comments

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

The thing is, this really is dodging the key issue. I don't care if planes fly over me when I'm at work, but I do care if they ruin my peace at home. If planes can fly over either a park or a city, they should fly over the park at night when next to nobody is there, and over the city during the day.

[cnoocy]

I care if the park in question is a wildlife refuge.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

Same.

[ron_newman]

Wouldn't flights to and from Hanscom often go over Somerville as well?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Is there any real point of this besides to annoy the readership with YET ANOTHER POST about plane noise?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's fair. This isn't "yet another post about plane noise" in the way that "ZOMGAIRPLANES!!" (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/2038895.html) is. This is an invitation to a useful thought experiment about the consequences of complaining about airplane noise.

Even if it is already on the flowchart. (http://community.livejournal.com/davis_snark/49178.html)

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Yeah, how bout a poll on whether we should allow any more airplane posts ever?

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

:D

[kpht.livejournal.com]

They do not have many commercial flights from Hanscom. Very, very few. They are mostly private flights from smaller and corporate jets. I don't know the numbers but just keep in mind that it's not a very valid alternative to Logan and I don't think it will ever be.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

This.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

The only airline serving Hanscom Field (which is separate from Hanscom Air Force Base) is Linear Air, which primarily does charters. The only scheduled flights a summer-only service to Nantucket. See http://linearair.com .

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

How about this poll?

Which would you prefer to see (hear) happen?

() Fewer complaints about airplane noise over Somerville/Medford

() Fewer complaintants about airplane noise over Somerville/Medford

I'm sorry, "It Depends" or "Neither" or "Both" aren't going to be options in this poll, even if you think they're options, but since I don't think that your opinion is valid, I won't let you make that opinion and therefore this poll will conclude in a valid scientific fact.

Noise Pollution

[msr-tim.livejournal.com]

It's mind boggling to me how many people are so defensive of noise pollution.

Re: Noise Pollution

[genesayssitdown.livejournal.com]

i don't defend noise pollution, having these airports right in the middle of densely populated areas, is just a terrible idea. having grown up in boston, it's kind of upsetting to me that davis square and somerville, for all this time (up until recently), was immune to airplane noise. better to distribute this noise around to every one, and not just keep it isolated to certain geographic areas. we should all share the pain of living in the boston area, this close to logan. not just wish it back to whence it came.

Re: Noise Pollution

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It's mind-boggling to me how self-righteous people can get over this issue.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I reject this poll because of its inherent NIMBYism. Everyone should have to deal equally with airplane noise. If you don't like airplane noise, advocate for high speed rail. After Spain had completed a major chunk of its high speed train system, it cut domestic air travel roughly in half. As far as I'm concerned, that, more restrictive flight schedules and building quieter jet engines are the only viable ways to reduce airplane noise over a given neighborhood.

That said, one argument against commercial flights at Handscom is that it reduces the total number of available slots for airplanes, thus increasing the total cost of flying and making rail seem more cost effective. But this may be offset by the fact that the airplanes from Handscom tend to fly over disproportionately wealthy towns and, by association, the towns most likely to make use of air travel in the first place. I don't find it particularly fair that most of the flights into Logan approach over Dorchester, a neighborhood that definitely uses less than its fair share of air travel in spite of all of the noise they have to deal with.

[ifotismeni]

we should do like hong kong did and build an airport on an island way the eff far away from boston, way out in the water, and then build a high-speed train connecting the airport to the city.

less noise for all, more jobs, everyone wins.

if only we had the money, and if only that were feasible.


while i'm dreaming i'd also like a new car and tv.

[cnoocy]

Have you checked the sidewalk? I hear people often discard TVs there.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I smell a shovel-ready project!

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Well, they'll have a train to PVD pretty soon, right?

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I've got a 28 inch giant tv if you want to come pick it up. Picture quality is good and it works well.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

It's not like Hanscom is going to see too much traffic to the east.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I like the planes.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the few times I've visited or lived in places without planes going overhead, I've found that I sleep even more restlessly than usual. The silence gets to me. I find airplane noise quite soothing.

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

This is as good as the Fox news poll which totaled 120%, mostly against health care. The poll is obviously and clumsily worded to have a biased result by giving an either/or between two things which need not be linked.