QUESTION
Is it not fully within our power to regulate what happens at our heliports?
1:07:47
·
110 sec
The council member expresses frustration with tourist helicopter flights being dismissed as non-tourist flights, despite evidence showing they were indeed tourist flights.
- The council member cites recent examples of confirmed tourist flights that were initially dismissed by authorities
- The council member observes frequent helicopter activity over public parks like Brooklyn Bridge Park
- The council member questions the city's ability to regulate flights originating from city-controlled heliports
- The NYC Economic Development Corporation acknowledges the need for improvements in data collection and transparency regarding flight tracking
Lincoln Restler
1:07:47
To that point, I I have to say, I'll I'll give you an example.
1:07:50
We recently had 2 complaints.
1:07:52
That came into through them, and then they called our office.
1:07:54
We followed up with EDC because the complaints were dismissed as non tourist flights.
1:07:58
We sent in images.
1:08:00
We sent in the course of the flights.
1:08:02
And of course, CDC then confirmed, yes, these were tourist flights.
1:08:05
So I'm nobody's perfect.
1:08:06
I know.
1:08:07
And everybody makes mistakes.
1:08:09
I only get, you know, so many times that constituents follow-up with the 301 numbers that we can follow-up and say, hey, this is what's real.
1:08:16
But when you say it's 1%, and I say I've got anecdotally 2 complaints from recent weeks from constituents that were dismissed as non tourist flights but were, in fact, confirmed subsequently by DC as tourist flights I don't really know what to believe.
1:08:29
I can tell you that when I sit in Brooklyn Bridge Park in my community and the helicopters are idling up above, That's not blade.
1:08:36
That's not somebody going to JFK or the Hampton's.
1:08:39
They wanna see the park.
1:08:40
I mean, they they could see it perfectly well from the ground, but they choose to to watch it from the from up above.
1:08:45
I know some of those flights are coming from New Jersey, but a lot of those are tourist flights that are coming from our telepads and that we control.
1:08:51
And I get that these there's their state and federal regulations here especially federal, but we control our telepath.
1:08:57
It is fully is it not within our power to regulate what happens at our telepath?
Mikelle Adgate
1:09:03
I think council member, I will sort of refer back to the improvements on the flight tracking system that we have laid out for the RFP because I I definitely see the point and, you know, it's our teams that are following up when, you know, there is a discrepancy.
1:09:20
And so we know that there's improvement on the data collection that needs to happen and on the transparency side, and that's the the very reason why we have baked that into that ISP.
Lincoln Restler
1:09:32
I I have additional questions, but perhaps if there's
John Wilkins
1:09:34
a time for more, I I can come back later.
Lincoln Restler
1:09:36
Thank you.
← Previous Chapter
What is the current cap on the number of helicopter flights allowed at the downtown Manhattan heliport, and will this cap remain the same under the new Request for Proposals (RFP)?
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What are the lease fee requirements for operators in the RFP submissions for city heliports?