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Helicopter over New York City
Photo: magann / IMAGO
Residents of New York City seem to be increasingly suffering from the noise from helicopters.
This is suggested by numbers of a hotline that those affected can contact.
In 2021, »311« received more than 25,000 complaint calls.
A good 10,000 more than in 2020. The corona pandemic apparently brought some calm to New York.
She didn't last long.
"Stop the Chop", based on the word "chopper", is the name of an initiative in which resistance is formed.
The aim is to ban commercial and private helicopter flights.
"With the larger helicopters, my apartment vibrates," says member Melissa Elstein.
Politicians have already reached the topic.
Democratic New York Congressman Brad Hoylman and others are pushing for legislation to curb flights.
Hoylman tweeted that the noise was being caused by "unsuspecting tourists and well-heeled billionaires."
It's not just the noise from the helicopters that bothers him: a helicopter produces 43 times more carbon dioxide per hour than an average car.
The law has already passed the New York House of Representatives, but Governor Kathy Hochul has not yet signed it into law.
But Andy Rosenthal, President of »Stop the Chop«, the project does not go far enough.
'It's a good first step.
But it's not what we were hoping for.
The fight goes on,” he says.
New York City has several heliports: two in Midtown on the Hudson and East Rivers used for corporate and charter flights, another near Wall Street in Lower Manhattan from which tourist flights depart.
A 15- to 20-minute scenic flight costs at least $200 per person.
»It seems to be part of life in New York«
Faced with growing resentment from New Yorkers, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio's government agreed with operators to halve the number of tourist flights per year from 60,000 to 30,000 starting in 2017.
"These flights are only for the convenience of a few," says activist Elstein.
Other New Yorkers have resigned themselves to the noise: "It's background noise," says Mark Roberge.
He lives near the helipad on the southern tip of Manhattan.
"It seems to be part of living in New York."
jpz/AFP
