Crowley seeks noise reduction around airports

Those living around LaGaurdia Airport might soon get help to reduce airplane noise in their homes.
Moreover, it could be done without changing flight patterns.
Congressmember Joseph Crowley is continuing his push to get the homes and businesses in Woodside, Astoria, East Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights soundproofing protection to help dull the boom of the planes overhead.
Crowley said schools that experience loud noises from the planes have already gone through the soundproofing process. He is now hopeful they can give homes and places of worship the same treatment.
The World Health Organization found that airport noise has been linked to cardiovascular disease, Crowley said. The same report stated airport noise could affect children’s learning ability.
“It is hazardous to one’s health and well-being and it diminishes an individual’s quality of life,” Crowley said.
In an effort to help bring attention to the noise issue, Crowley spoke to the congressional aviation subcommittee about ways to reduce the distraction.
“Bring more attention to the issue is a good thing,” Crowley said.
The committee has urged airport operators to complete a study of ways to mitigate sound in homes around airports. Most of the busiest airports in the nation have submitted these studies, but the Port Authority has not submitted one for LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy Airport, or Newark.
Once the study is submitted, the airport would need to figure out a way to reduce any hazardous noise. Among the possibilities is giving federal grants to help cover the cost of soundproofing the homes.
The Port Authority did not return phone calls seeking comment by press time.
In his own study around LaGuardia, Crowley found that homes can experience plane noise four times louder than the federal government allows.
Crowley has said he will try to make the studies mandatory if the Port Authority continues to stall on starting the study.
He added, “I’m hopeful they will come around because it is the right thing to do.”