Please patronize our sponsors. Ads with links are clickable.


Record


Airport complaints fall on deaf ears, neighbors say

 

Friday, December 10, 1999

By KENNETH LOVETT
Staff Writer

When a plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in Newark late last month, neighbors of Teterboro Airport said it was just a matter of time before such an accident would happen in Bergen County.

Two weeks later, their grim prophecy came true when a plane crashed in Hasbrouck Heights, killing three people.

"The people know it's going to happen, and it will happen again," said Moonachie Councilman John Schwartz just minutes after Thursday's crash. "It doesn't do a damn bit of good to talk to the people involved because they don't care. The only thing they care about is the money the airport brings in."

South Hackensack Mayor Dolly Montenegro also expressed frustration that residents' complaints seemingly have gone unheard over the years.

About 100,000 people live within a two-mile radius of the airport.

"We anticipate this happening every day of our lives," Montenegro said. "We live with this fear."

Schwartz, Montenegro, and scores of others have long complained that Teterboro Airport was becoming too crowded, causing noise problems and environmental and safety concerns in surrounding neighborhoods.

Laura Sika, who lives on Woodside Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights, has noticed an increase in air traffic for at least 18 months. The aircraft seem to be flying lower, she said, not only into Teterboro, but also into Newark International Airport.

"You can read the logos on the airplanes, whether it's Continental or Delta or American," Sika said. "It's terrible."

But Assemblywoman Rose Heck, R-Hasbrouck Heights, said Thursday night that the big problem with Teterboro Airport is not the increase in usage, but a change in the types of planes that take off and land at the facility.

The size of the planes has grown dramatically as Teterboro has become home to more and more corporate jets. And those jets, she said, are sharing the same airspace as planes using the major airports in New York City and Newark.

"The big fear is that one of those huge corporate jets one day will come down and that would take us all out," she said.

Teterboro Airport is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Air traffic is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

According to FAA data, there were more than 210,000 operations -- takeoffs plus landings -- from Teterboro in 1998. That was down from about 230,000 in the early 1980s.

Various federal, state, and local officials from the region earlier this year asked the Port Authority and FAA to close the airport to late-night flights, limit the size of planes that are allowed to use the facility, and keep track of air routes and make changes where necessary.

To date, there has been little progress.

In fact, despite denials from the Port Authority two years ago that it planned to increase corporate jet use at the airport by 20 percent, state officials earlier this year confirmed they want more corporate jets flying out of Teterboro.

When the state Department of Transportation took over a small commuter airport in West Milford in Passaic County this summer, a DOT official explained the importance of keeping smaller airports open to free space at facilities such as Teterboro for corporate jets. Otherwise, they said, such jets would have to use the more congested Newark Airport.

"We would strongly object to that," Heck said of the idea of bringing more corporate jets to Teterboro. "We cannot put more people in danger in this heavily populated area. How many more risks are we going to take with this particular area?"

Staff Writer Adam Geller contributed to this article.

 

 

Copyright © 1999 Bergen Record Corp.

 





BAR_ELEG.GIF (11170 bytes)




Please patronize our sponsors. Ads with links are clickable.

BAR_ELEG.GIF (11170 bytes)

news, information and features  LOGO.GIF (7473 bytes) tm

Home Page   ·   Site Map   ·   teterboro-online.com
The Gazette Newspaper   ·   The-Boulevard-Mall

Thank you for visiting our hometown.  Come back soon!
[Contact Webmaster] [Policy Statement] [Advertising information]   Copyright 1998-2008. All rights reserved.
All photographs used in this web-site are copyrighted and property of the photographer.
Photographs used herein are on loan and are not public domain 

BAR_ELEG.GIF (11170 bytes)


Please patronize our sponsors. Ads with links are clickable.