All-Star Congressman Eliot Engel Shows FAA The Bronx

Quiet Rockland Thanks Our All-Star New York Congressman Eliot L. Engel, for Deflating Faa Lies and Showing The Faa The Bronx!

"Much well-deserved fanfare surrounded Tuesday's extra-inning Major League Baseball All-Star Game held during Yankee Stadium's final year in the Bronx, New York. Bronx residents, as well as Westchester residents and those of us in Rockland County, have the good fortune to call United States Representative Eliot L. Engel our Congressman here in the 17th District. It is therefore in Congressman Engel's honor that we issue this press release on July 17th, in solidarity with him, with his wonderful and responsive staff, and with our other neighbors in the Bronx and elsewhere in New York's 17th.

"Quiet Rockland has now fought the FAA for over a year. We will continue to use every lawful means to do so until the airways are safe again, until FAA Acting Administrator 'Bobby' Sturgell is deposed as the failure that he is, and until the FAA's foul NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign is withdrawn and scrapped permanently.

"As demonstrated again and again over the past year, Congressman Eliot Engel has bravely challenged the FAA, a rogue lawless federal agency - out of his conscientious and innate avuncular concern for the well-being of his neighbors and constituents here in the 17th - and even more so, because the cause is right.

"Many children and adults lined the sidewalks of Manhattan two days ago to get a glimpse of their favorite ballplayer and ask for their autograph. If adulation has its place in this society, then autographs should also be asked of those brave public servants who are unafraid to put themselves on the line to protect people and fight injustice, including police officers, fire personnel, EMT's, corrections officers, court officers - and also Congressman Engel. With broadcast copy of this press release I am respectfully requesting that Congressman Engel please send me an autographed photo for my office wall.

"Quiet Rockland is proud to say that Eliot Engel leads our All-Star Team. We thank Eliot Engel for standing up to the thug-like agency known as the FAA, which made the severe miscalculation of trying to bully us New Yorkers.

"We look forward to giving Congressman Engel's good offices every further lawful assistance in causing the summary ouster of failed Acting FAA Administrator 'Bobby' Sturgell - and then re-populating the FAA with responsible public officials for a change, who actually care about the over-flown human lives on the ground. And if not, then in the paraphrased words of another New Yorker, baseball's Bobby Bonilla, we will be happy to help further show the FAA the Bronx.

Engel Sharply Criticizes Faa on Flight Plan

Congressman Eliot Engel accused the Federal Aviation Administration of being less than forthcoming with information about the effects of its air traffic redesign plan that would fly hundreds of planes over Rockland County on a daily basis.

In testimony presented Wednesday to the Subcommittee on Aviation of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, on Congestion Management in the New York Air Space, Rep. Engel repeatedly criticized the FAA for withholding information and of arrogance in not considering the views of the people of Rockland County who are directly affected by the agency's plans.

"Throughout the whole process", Rep. Engel said, "the FAA has made it difficult, if not impossible, to get accurate information on the effects of the Airspace Redesign".

He said it was only through persistent inquiries to the FAA, "most of which yielded little real information", did he learn that the plan would send up to 400 additional flights daily over Rockland at altitudes as low as 5,000 feet.

In testimony submitted to the hearing, Rep. Engel said, "We still do not know how loud it will be when 400 planes fly overhead every day. We don't know how much additional pollution this will cause. We don't know how it will affect the disproportionate rate of childhood asthma in my district.

"The level of secrecy is unacceptable".

He asked his colleagues to put themselves in the position of the 300,000 residents of Rockland, sitting in your living room reading a book with planes flying overhead every two minutes and "then imagine someone turns on a vacuum cleaner every two minutes for the entire day".

He called the FAA proposal flawed and said it would relieve little, if any, congestion. "The FAA estimates that this will possibly save a couple of minutes per flight", he said. "However, they can't even say this with certainty."

The 10-term congressman said that House members supported legislation introduced by Rep. Engel and three other area Congressmen calling for a Government Accountability Office study of the effectiveness of the FAA design. "And despite the fact that the GAO is currently studying whether this will actually have any benefit on congestion, the FAA is rushing full speed ahead to implement their plan before the study is completed".

He said a number of different strategies had reduced regional delays without adversely affecting thousands of people. "Reinstituting flight caps at Newark, LaGuardia, and JFK can help reduce delays", he said. "opening up military airspace, as the President did over the holidays, is another way to help".

He warned his colleagues that the FAA could do the same in their district as it was trying to do to his. "If this plan goes forward, I fear for the quiet neighborhoods across the country".

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