The New York Times reports that Park Slope residents complain about aircraft noise:

EVERYONE agrees that Park Slope is no Flushing or Howard Beach, not one of those neighborhoods where the whine of descending jets is as familiar as birdsong. But ever since 2000, its residents have complained of an increase in noise from low-flying jets bound for La Guardia Airport.
The battle has been fought on many fronts. A neighborhood group, the Park Slope Quality of Life Committee, posts pictures of low-flying planes on its Web site, along with a petition asking the Federal Aviation Administration to limit air traffic to La Guardia and vary the approaching flight patterns.

Good grief. Suffice to say I am not sympathetic to the stroller-set’s complaints.
Normal arrivals to LGA take one of three vectors:

1. The Runway 22 approach which aircraft generally proceed up the west side of Manhattan for a series of right-hand turns over the Bronx to land north-to-south.
2. The Runway 4 which takes aircraft over Brooklyn (Park Slope and my home of Greenpoint) landing south-to-north.
3. The Runway 13 approach is used when the wind shifts and vectors aircraft over the northern tip of Manhattan to land west-to-east.¹

All of this illustrates how immensely crowded New York Airspace has become, with arriving and departing aircraft from La Guardia, Kennedy, and Newark and from numerous regional airports throughout the region. You just can’t up and change approach vectors due to the stroller-set noise complaints. In fact the FAA is attempting to redesign the regional airspace, which you can read about here: New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Airspace Redesign.
But what of aircraft noise? On approach to Runway 4, aircraft descend from 2700 ft to 1700 ft over Park Slope – which is higher than the Empire State Building. La Guardia handles regional traffic (flights less than 1,500 miles)² with airlines generally using smaller Regional Jets or MD-80’s.
If the Park Slope Quality of Life Committee really wants to reduce aircraft noise, petitioning the FAA is a non-starter, and they should put their energy into supporting regional high speed rail initiatives which will take more planes out of the sky. Initiatives such as California’s High Speed Rail creating regional high speed rail is exactly the correct policy which will reduce aircraft flying over their delicate heads.
Or, they can get over themselves. You live in New York City. It is loud here and aircraft noise should be the least of your noise complaints.

1. Incidentally, out of all the trips in and out of LGA, I’ve only actually landed this way once. ↩
2. Due to the Port Authority banning flights longer than 1,500 miles in order to shift transatlantic and transamerican flights ↩

Zeppelin, originally uploaded by czak142p

While I am all for researching alternative transportation options, the idea of transit by a Zeppelin fleet doesn’t make sense from a holistic point of view. If private companies wish to research and develop future lighter-than-air aircraft, be my guest.
High speed rail, though initially expensive, is both a proven technology and is a cost effective means of transporting both passengers and freight. If you are serious about reducing carbon emissions per ton/mile or per passenger/mile the airship is a non-starter. High speed rail is the proved technology, not hot air.

Fireworks, originally uploaded by plemeljr

Hot off the press release:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced that after just eight months, the first of two 200-ton tunnel boring machines had completed its mile-long plus journey from the bedrock beneath the intersection of 63rd Street and Second Avenue to the terminus of what will become a new station and concourse underneath Grand Central Terminal. The second machine is scheduled to complete its parallel journey near the end of the summer.
…
Now that the machine has reached its destination, excavation will begin on what will become a cavern underneath Park Avenue between 49th and 51st Streets that will connect the newly built tunnel with parallel tunnels which will allow the future Long Island Rail Road flexibility in accessing all eight tracks in the new station under Grand Central. That work involves intermittent blasting and mechanical excavation that is scheduled to begin in mid-July and last for six to eight months.

I very much like the idea of tunneling a cavern underneath the existing Grand Central Terminal. I imagine commuters-cum-spelunkers entering and exciting Grand Central on their way to and from home.
Read more about MTA’s East SideAccess.

, originally uploaded by ( Tomàs )

The Garden, originally uploaded by plemeljr

Oh ever-delayed Moynihan Station, will the muses ever see you through to completion? Probably not, but the Two Steves continue to propose the Port Authority’s to buy off the Dolans with $2 billion:

According to multiple people familiar with discussions, the joint venture of the Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust wants the Port Authority to come in and buy the current Madison Square Garden, along with its hotly desired air rights, a task that would cost somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. The developers have told officials that this purchase by the public sector, which would be effectively paid back by the developers should the entire project come together, is necessary to right the troubled large-scale plan. By the public sector taking a risk that the developers apparently find too risky and/or expensive—in the failed plan, billions in funding and numerous agreements for the entire project were needed before the Garden could get a new arena—the developers seem to be reasoning that the Garden would be given enough certainty to be lured back to the table.

Why don’t we just cut to the chase: Governor Patterson should use the power of eminent domain (which was used so well at Atlantic Yards) to take the current Penn Station, the air rights and the current Madison Square Garden in order to redevelop the parcels for the good of the region. In exchange, the western half of the James Farley Post Office can be purchased by the Dolan Family to rebuild Madison Square Garden. Instead of handing over large sums of money to the Dolans – no matter if the reported $2 billion will be repaid by the developers – the Port Authority can use this money for regional transportation.
While the Port Authority has a history of completing large-scale projects, this plan represents a wholesale transfer of risk to the quasi-public entity without any of the rewards (profits) when the project succeeds. Government is uniquely situated to lead and to shoulder risk, but that risk must be rewarded.

Traffic JAM !, originally uploaded by aapon

Besides the advantage of riding transit while intoxicated, there are many other advantages to public transportation over private transportation. One of the difficulties is how to sell the initial investment in transit to a skeptical crowd of Americans who see transportation policy as a binary zero-sum game. How to package transit in a way which would not only appease those of us who are pro-transit but those who just can’t live without their private transportation.
I don’t have a coherent slogan I could put forth to the Obama team, but one place to start is stressing the fact that every car you take off the street with mass transit becomes one less car you have to pass on the way to work. Making your pitch up with the iron-triangle of economics, sustainability and pure selfishness is the way to move the electorate over to a more evenly balanced transportation policy.

I saw Wall·E last night, no joke, if you go and see one movie this year, see Wall·E. A. O. Scott’s review sums up Wall·E the best:

The first 40 minutes or so of “Wall-E” — in which barely any dialogue is spoken, and almost no human figures appear on screen — is a cinematic poem of such wit and beauty that its darker implications may take a while to sink in. The scene is an intricately rendered city, bristling with skyscrapers but bereft of any inhabitants apart from a battered, industrious robot and his loyal cockroach sidekick. Hazy, dust-filtered sunlight illuminates a landscape of eerie, post-apocalyptic silence. This is a world without people, you might say without animation, though it teems with evidence of past life.