Downtown Heliport transition moving forward
According to the NY Times, The NYCEDC is moving forward with the transition of the Downtown Heliport management, despite a suit questioning its fairness.
The NYCECD told the NY Times that in the next several weeks, FirstFlight, an upstate based helicopter pad operator, associated with Alvin Trenk, of Pegasus Air (currently operating the 30th Street heliport) will have assumed management of the Downtown Heliport. Earlier this spring, the controversial award of the management contract from the EDC to FirstFlight, led to a suit from a competing operator based at Linden Airport in NJ. The NY Times says that Patricia Ornst of the EDC “acknowledged that some sightseeing flights are very likely to be diverted to the downtown heliport because the West Side heliport has started gradually phasing down the sightseeing traffic there. But she added that she was sensitive to complaints from downtown residents about helicopter noise.”
The reason that 30th street sightseeing traffic is going to be phased down, is to comply with a settlement agreement entered into this summer, after Air Pegasus was sued by Friends of Hudson River Park. The suit, and settlement agreement should be an indication of how NYC residents feel about the constant tourist helicopter noise. By saying that she was “sensitive to complaints from downtown residents about helicopter noise,” Ms. Ornst must mean that she has listened to the voicemail messages that the EDC has been receiving. It is dubious, judging from the action by the EDC (or lack thereof) since they have been delegated to handle noise complaints about helicopter traffic in NYC, how much EDC really is sensitive to residents afflicted by the noise.
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