The people of Phoenix have a stand up Mayor and City Council. They stood up to one of the most -- if not the most -- arrogant of all federal agencies, the FAA.
They threatened to sue, are suing, and look what they got: the FAA crying uncle:
Quotes from the victims of the FAA's polluting, nerve-racking, sleep-depriving NextGen navigation system:
"NextGen is the FAA's war on noise abatement"
-- Queens, NY FAA NextGen victim.
"Like frogs boiling in water, we're supposed to be used to it. It's also obvious that any human consequences were left out of this completely logistical and engineering-driven initiative. People are collateral damage. It's the economy and the airline industry that matter. We didn't get a seat at the table. Not during the process and not now."
--Brooklyn, NY FAA NextGen victim.
"It's like living in a combat zone that isn't supposed to exist . . . If we logged complaints, we would literally have to sit down on the computer or telephone all day, for hour after hour, documenting plane after plane."
-- Baltimore FAA NextGen victim.
"My life and my neighborhood are worthless not only to the FAA and Port Authority, but also to the people who represent me."
-- Queens, NY FAA NextGen victim.
The free-for-all must stop. Our politicians and legislators must step up to the plate. They cannot stand idly by as a federal agency black-tops over our homes and smothers us beneath a slab of roaring noise and ghastly pollution!"
-- Brooklyn, NY NextGen victim.
"The bottom line is that there are many, many more aircraft in the skies these days. This is not a problem for just one city, it is a national quagmire. If the number of vehicles on the surface of the earth increased exponentially over just a few years, there would be an outcry from citizens to manage and control the mess. And steps would be taken to do so. The FAA is swaggering around like this is the wild, wild west, and has become the darling agency of the airline industry, who reap in enormous profits at the expense of our health and quality of life.
--Boston NextGen victim.
"I want to be able to listen to the sound of the rain, to go out on my deck in the evening and enjoy the air. If your neighbor is using a leaf-blower, you can endure it because you know it will end in an hour. If there is major construction, you can tell yourself in a few months it will be done. The reality that this will never end, that there is no break, no cessation, that the planes will come in all day every day for as long as you live, it is breaking my spirit. I will never be able to have the life I want here."
--Brooklyn, NY NextGen victim.
"Noise, noise, fumes, fumes. . . All day, every minute. The noise is annoying and disrupts sleep, blood pressure; it creates anxiety in children, adults and the elderly, it disturbs school children's ability to concentrate and absorb homework; the invisible fumes are insidious; these kind of kerosene contaminants are implicated in autism spectrum disorders and complications in pregnancy."
--Brooklyn, NY NextGen victim.
-- Queens, NY FAA NextGen victim.
"Like frogs boiling in water, we're supposed to be used to it. It's also obvious that any human consequences were left out of this completely logistical and engineering-driven initiative. People are collateral damage. It's the economy and the airline industry that matter. We didn't get a seat at the table. Not during the process and not now."
--Brooklyn, NY FAA NextGen victim.
"It's like living in a combat zone that isn't supposed to exist . . . If we logged complaints, we would literally have to sit down on the computer or telephone all day, for hour after hour, documenting plane after plane."
-- Baltimore FAA NextGen victim.
"My life and my neighborhood are worthless not only to the FAA and Port Authority, but also to the people who represent me."
-- Queens, NY FAA NextGen victim.
The free-for-all must stop. Our politicians and legislators must step up to the plate. They cannot stand idly by as a federal agency black-tops over our homes and smothers us beneath a slab of roaring noise and ghastly pollution!"
-- Brooklyn, NY NextGen victim.
"The bottom line is that there are many, many more aircraft in the skies these days. This is not a problem for just one city, it is a national quagmire. If the number of vehicles on the surface of the earth increased exponentially over just a few years, there would be an outcry from citizens to manage and control the mess. And steps would be taken to do so. The FAA is swaggering around like this is the wild, wild west, and has become the darling agency of the airline industry, who reap in enormous profits at the expense of our health and quality of life.
--Boston NextGen victim.
"I want to be able to listen to the sound of the rain, to go out on my deck in the evening and enjoy the air. If your neighbor is using a leaf-blower, you can endure it because you know it will end in an hour. If there is major construction, you can tell yourself in a few months it will be done. The reality that this will never end, that there is no break, no cessation, that the planes will come in all day every day for as long as you live, it is breaking my spirit. I will never be able to have the life I want here."
--Brooklyn, NY NextGen victim.
"Noise, noise, fumes, fumes. . . All day, every minute. The noise is annoying and disrupts sleep, blood pressure; it creates anxiety in children, adults and the elderly, it disturbs school children's ability to concentrate and absorb homework; the invisible fumes are insidious; these kind of kerosene contaminants are implicated in autism spectrum disorders and complications in pregnancy."
--Brooklyn, NY NextGen victim.