To The Editor:

Exactly how much does the Mayor want our airports to grow? I live in the flight path of LaGuardia, believe me that airport is big enough. Remember, it was the Port Authority who fought the increase in additional flights at LaGuardia. They know how to run our airports with sensitivity to the community.

Sincerely,

Steven A. Kizis

Glendale

Airlines At Fault

To The Editor:

I read Bill Milgrim’s article "NYC, PA Battle For Airports Control" (Gazette, Jan. 31st) with interest. John Dyson the chairman of the NYC Council of Economic Advisors, said that "The New York Times says LaGuardia stinks." He used this article to illustrate why the Port Authority should be removed from the management of Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.

Having read the article, I’ve got to believe that Mr. Dyson must have only read the headline. The article clearly pins the blame for the problems at the airport to greedy airlines. The author, Glenn Thursh, said that delays at the airport were due to a competition among the airlines "that seems to have gotten out of control." He quotes an airline lobbyist as calling the dramatic increase in the number of flights following the passage of AIR-21 as "the dark side of competition."

Recall that it was the Port Authority who took a bold step last September and issued a moratorium on the number of new flights at LaGuardia. Oh, yes, the Mayor Rudolph Giuliani filed a lawsuit. That makes just one more frivolous lawsuit clogging up our courts.

Running an airport is a complex business—one that requires you to read more than just the headlines.

Sincerely,

Sisi Suarez

Jackson Heights

Wishes Her Well

To The Editor:

Queens culture covers a wide range of activities, from art to acrobatics, from dance to drama, from music to museums, on, and on, and on.

The previewing, coordination, management, and presentation of these diverse events is an extraordinary job, necessitating ability, intelligence, intution, tact, and endless other skills.

How much richer Queens cultural life has been since 1985, when Aida Gonzalez-Jarrin was appointed Director of Cultural Affairs by then Borough President Donald Manes, and confirmed a year later by Claire Shulman. Aida’s recent departure from the post, on December 28, 2000, concluded a remarkable 15-year period.

Her accomplishments in the culture field were remarkable: former President of the Queens County on the Arts; co-founder of the Latin-American Cultural Center; former columnist for El Diaro.

She was directly involved in projects related to Flushing Town Hall, Kingsland Homestead, the Louis Armstrong House, and the Louis Latimer House.

Highlights of her career included organizing the following:

The Borough President’s first celebration of Martin Luther King Day.

Two major conferences on Queens History in 1996 and 1998.

The Irish History Conference in 1997.

The Borough President’s Centennial Celebration of Greater New York.

The Borough President’s Millennium Celebration by the Queens Symphony Orchestra’s concert under the Unisphere.

Space limitations prevent presentation of the other 90 percent of Aida’s activities.

Although I am speaking personally, I know that I speak for all of Queens about the deep admiration and affection we all feel for you, Aida. We know that whatever your future plans and activities, they be of the highest quality, and their positive effects will be felt not only by those for whom they were intended, but by all of us.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Stanley Cogan

Queens Borough Historian

Flight Paths Betray

To The Editor:

The FAA will redesign local flight paths.

The purpose of this project is to enable the FAA to increase the number of take offs and landings in order to reduce delays and congestion. The recently passed Air 21 Bill calls for a massive expansion of aviation to accommodate this increase. Noise reduction is not the goal of this air space redesign. Expect more noise as flights increase.

Ocean routing pertains to Newark Airport, not JFK or LaGuardia. The ocean routing proposal originated with anti-noise activists in central New Jersey who want departures from Newark to follow the Arthur Kill to Raritan Bay to the Atlantic Ocean, then head back to New Jersey at higher altitudes. Staten Islanders fear this would increase noise over Staten Island. The airlines oppose ocean routing because it would increase fuel costs. Queens legislators claim that ocean routing would compromise safety for flights destined for LaGuardia.

You can’t put 10 pounds of manure into a five-pound bag. More planes, more flights equals more noise and more jet exhaust/airport pollution. You can thank your Congress for this mess. They surrendered to the aviation cabal, the airlines, plane manufacturers, airline unions, jet fuel manufacturers, etc. Your tax dollars are bankrolling this massive expansion. If you live near an airport or under a flight path consider yourself a third class citizen. Because:

1. You lost your right to a quiet, healthy, safe environment.

2. Your government is ignoring your plight and regards air transportation more important than you.

3. Your elected officials are ignoring you. The only way you can stop what is going on is to band together and protect what should be yours—a quiet, healthy, safe environment.

A. Allan Greene

SAFE, Inc. (Sane Aviation For Everyone)

Howard Beach

The Air 21 Bill was spearheaded and passed last year by then President Bill Clinton.

Arbitrary DOT

An open letter to NYC Transportation Commissioner Weinshall

Dear Commissioner Weinshall:

Imagine waking up one morning to find a new stop sign installed less than 120 feet before another one. Neither the Jamaica Estates Association (JEA), of which I am the president, nor Community Board 8, on whose transportation committee I serve, asked the Department of Transportation  (DOT) for a stop sign on 80th Drive by Kildare Road in Jamaica Estate. There is no apparent reason for one being there, but that’s not the end of the story.

Now imagine waking up just two weeks later and finding both stop signs removed! Again, a move which neither CB8 nor the JEA requested.

This is just what the residents of 80th Drive were astonished to find last week. DOT had removed not only the unnecessary new stop sign, but also the absolutely necessary stop sign at the intersection of 80th Drive and Kent Street. DOT has now turned 80th Drive—a quiet, residential street that is home to many young children —into a high-speed, non-stop thruway from Surrey Place to 188th Street.

Commissioner Weinshall, I object to DOT’s increasingly arbitrary use of discretion with respect to the placement of traffic control devices and its lack of communication and consultation with the community board and local civic groups on these matters. For example, our community is living with a dangerous intersection at Midland Parkway and Chevy Chase Street that, after 16 years of requests by local residents and scores of serious accidents, was only partially improved last year with the installation of an all-way stop. But we still did not get the red blinking light as recommended by the Community Board, requested by the local residents and the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates Synagogue and suggested by a DOT engineer. DOT has indicated that the additional expense of a blinking light must be justified by additional accidents at the intersection.

I am simply not willing to allow one of our residents to pay with his or her life to get this intersection fixed, and you should not allow it either. Your responsibility is to protect life. The Jamaica Estates Association, on behalf of the Jamaica Estates community, calls upon you to restore immediately the stop sign on 80th Drive at Kent Street and to install the long overdue red blinking light on Midland Parkway at Chevy Chase Street as soon as possible.

Sincerely,                                

Jim Gennaro

President,

Jamaica Estates Association