How The Airport Impacts YOU

Friends in Harrison, Port Chester, Rye Brook and Greenwich:

As the Chairperson of the Village of Rye Brook Airport Council, I represent the citizens of Rye Brook. I also represent each and every one of you who is affected by environment, operations, construction, and policies at the County Airport.

I attend monthly meetings of the Westchester County Airport Council, but only in a non-official way because the members of the Council are appointed by County Legislators. Some of them have been there so long they no longer represent the citizens but seem to be extensions of the airport management and other special interests.

In my experience not even the County Department of Public Works and Transportation, which is responsible to the County Executive, really considers your needs, and that seems to be regardless of what administration they work for – Democrat or Republican.

The Airport Council, the County authorities, and I have been in an ongoing battle over whether the airport follows County law when it comes to airplane weight and passengers per half hour emplaning and deplaning. You may have heard (through Patch and the Wall Street Journal, as neither the Journal News nor local newspapers like the Westmore News have covered this story) that JetBlue stopped flying 150 seat A-320 jets into the airport.

I first started complaining about the weight of these jets, which at 150,000 pounds (without passengers and luggage) is 30,000 pounds over the weight limit of 120,000 pounds set by County law. That County law contains an unusual out – that the airport manager can give a one-time exemption. My original thought was, that this exemption was only a one landing at a time affair. It appears now that the exemption was a blanket exemption. Those heavy jets landed and took off several times a day for years until June of this year, when they suddenly stopped. JetBlue said, in a statement to PATCH, that they were abandoning A-320 service, and substituting 100 seat Embraer service, because the 150 seat A-320 put them way over the 240 per passenger per half hour emplaning and deplaning legal use of the County Airport terminal. Now that a possible more than 300 passengers per half hour occupying the waiting room no longer exists, the need for enlarging the waiting area, building a 4000 square foot addition for security inspection of baggage, no longer is necessary.

Was there ever a major press release, or even press conference, called by the County or the Airport Council, to announce this? Of course not. Because neither the County nor the Airport Council wants to call attention to what they are doing or planning at the airport.

The current plans for a $54,000,000 “improvement” effort; some, and I am one of them, call this “expansion”. One part of that “improvement” would have de-icing tank fluids seeping into the Blind Brook. There are also air quality issues caused by the airport. Do you notice the residue of jet fuel left on your home, and outside property, and, of course, in your lungs?

Quoting from the LAWS OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY, Section 712.391. Purpose. “The County of Westchester is the owner and sponsor of the Westchester County Airport. The County of Westchester recognizes that enforceable rules and regulations must exist for the orderly management and operation of the Westchester County Airport to protect the health and welfare of the public, provide for economic efficiency and accountability, to limit impacts on the environment and to meet the safety and security needs of the users of the airport, the residents of the County and the communities in close proximity to the airport. It is the purpose of this Article to create such rules and regulations”. Twenty-one pages follow!!

In the meantime, there’s an election for membership in the County Legislature coming in November, and you can ask the candidates from both parties how familiar they are with the airport issues, and what if anything they would do to bring fresh faces to the County Airport Council, at the minimum.

The airport has reached capacity. My aim in these columns will be to make sure that our interests, as citizens and neighbors of the airport, come first.