Re: Noise from airport is in the ear of the beholder, column by Editor of Editorials Diane Steinle, Sept. 28.
At a time when the County Commission is finally starting to understand that North Pinellas residents are fed up with the airport noise nuisance, Ms. Steinle's column was strange commentary. It was also a poor example of investigative journalism. The project should have started with the airport's Web site, where Ms. Steinle could have easily discovered the arriving and departing flight schedules instead of driving around Pinellas County at odd hours "listening."
Further, Ms. Steinle would have been welcomed as an overnight guest in many area homes to attempt a decent night's sleep here in the flight path. Scores of residents have made the same offer to county commissioners. Trying to sleep through the ATA and UPS predawn parade is quite a distance from sitting in your car, presumably wide awake.
We've been living with this ever-increasing noise nuisance for some time now. Why would Ms. Steinle find it noteworthy that residents don't gawk at every plane blasting by, or that we don't jump out of bed and turn on every light in the house when the assault begins every morning? We already know the source of the noise.
No one is claiming that the noise nuisance is sustained continuously; you certainly can find a peaceful moment here in North Pinellas neighborhoods. However, the planes do thunder overhead before 5 a.m., throughout the day, into the evening hours and as late as midnight. Friday nights and Monday mornings are among the busiest and the loudest. To think the county wants to add lumbering 747s, more military aircraft and other flights is unbearable.
Even the county now recognizes that there are no real or enforceable noise abatement procedures and it is slowly working toward establishing them. Only one noise abatement flight path exists for planes arriving from the north and it cannot be used in the dark, in the rain, or in a variety of other situations. Ms. Steinle should also be aware that the ILS system that guides planes over this densely populated residential area has been out of service recently. Now we're treated to planes zooming in at even lower altitudes. That alone should raise the common sense issue of safety.
Perhaps it's time for the county to finally perform a genuine noise study that includes neighborhoods north of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard, unlike the last study, which did not even consider us and ruled there was no noise nuisance. The noise issue is real in North Pinellas, despite the hard-hitting journalism Ms. Steinle offered. Also all too real are the questions about the expansion project's financial viability; the real costs to local, state and federal taxpayers; the true environmental impact, and the blatant pork barrel politics of the whole thing. These aspects affect the entire county, not just North Pinellas.
And if the airport master plan is adopted, even Ms. Steinle's peaceful Clearwater neighborhood will soon hear the roar of jet planes, but, of course, by then it will be too late.
-- Kara Bauer, Safety Harbor
[Last modified October 7, 2003, 02:33:49]
