June 7, 2007

You gotta see it to believe it!
At 8:00 AM this morning I looked up into the sky and viewed the above scene over our Bound Brook.

Looked like the morning rush hour in the sky. We have all heard the complaints about airplane flight patterns and how they would create annoying noise (and possibly potential harm) – but I never could grasp the extent of the problem that they were talking about.

I did some research and turned up the “New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise”(NJCAAN) and looking at the maps on their website -à http://www.njcaan.org/ I discovered that we are very near the heavy traffic routes and directly under the incoming traffic holding patterns. NJCAAN is a volunteer citizens group working to address airport and airplane noise pollution by promoting:

• Aircraft routes that limit flights over residential area; and



• 
  The use of quieter Stage 3 and Stage 4 aircraft.

NJCAAN's airspace proposals rely on the use of industrial areas, ocean airspace, higher altitudes and other procedures for noise abatement. These proposals bring significant relief to over one million citizens affected by aircraft noise from Newark International Airport; to Bergen and Passaic County residents affected by LaGuardia International Airport; and to Monmouth and Ocean County residents affected by Kennedy International Airport.

NJCAAN believes that the FAA never seriously considered Ocean Routing and deliberately excluded it from a broader redesign alternative. In addition, the FAA completely excluded identifying noise abatement procedures to be included with its alternatives in the draft report for the project. As a result, it completely ignored the public's number one concern: AIRCRAFT NOISE ABATEMENT.

It never bothered me, but my son Dave lives in San Diego and is right under a flight path. Several times a day the noise overhead is so bad you cannot talk on the telephone! I recall thinking that I could never live in that place.

Seems like the critics might have something to be concerned about. This situation bears watching! (I couldn’t resist!)

Any Volunteers?

It would really be great if at least 1 of the 11,000 Bound Brook citizens would volunteer to keep an eye on the situation for us and alert our government officials and us when it may become necessary to take some action to ward off any increasing problems. Contact me and I will explain what you could do and get you “Official representative” status. It should not take much of your time and it would be an easy way to perform a public service.

The Latest From Late Night Comedians

Jay Leno - "Scooter Libby has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, even though he is a good friend of Vice President Dick Cheney. Hey, he got off easy. Cheney's other friend got shot in the face."

Until next time - Ben

Today I start my first attempt at creating and maintaining a blog. I intend to comment about the political scene, what is happening in government, and what we as a political party in Bound Brook are doing.

I am happy to see our first successful 2007 campaign event come to a successful conclusion with the official Democratic Party nomination of our candidate for Mayor of Bound Brook - Javier Vasquez. I personally feel comfortable with a man as dedicated to serving Bound Brook as Javier. He is the only current councilman who we see at almost all public events in town. He has demonstrated a willingness to study issues and actually take action - not just fill a seat at the council table. He is always respectful and courteous and I can not imagine him ever embarrassing us or being argumentative, combative or abusive. He simply is interested in meeting his responsibilities and truly cares. That's the kind of person that I want looking after our interests as our Mayor.

Until - next time, Ben