r/newjersey • u/ccd03c • 7d ago
NJ Politics Contact assembly member John Allen to support bill banning tourist helicopters flying from NJ airports
In Hoboken, Jersey City, Weehawken, and Union City we listen to non stop tourist helicopters flying at 300-900 feet overhead all day long. They fly mostly from Kearny NJ as tourist trips to photograph NYC. They fly dangerously close to buildings and low over highly populated residential areas. I hope the others in NJ can help us support this bill. The bill, A1371, sponsored by Assembly members Julio Marenco and Jessica Ramirez, could not be more straightforward: it would require the state’s Commissioner of Transportation to prohibit tourist helicopter operations at aviation facilities licensed by the State, meaning all heliports. This would also pull the plug on thousands of sightseeing flights a year that now cross the Hudson and plague New Yorkers. (A similar bill in the NJ Senate, S454, was introduced in prior sessions but didn’t make it out of committee.) Stop the Chop NY/NJ is urging our New Jersey supporters to make calls and/or send emails to key lawmakers to ensure the bill gets a hearing in the Assembly’s Tourism, Gaming and Fine Arts Committee. Here are the names and contact info for the committee leadership and other key
UPDATED: Someone reached out to help and created a quick app to email these reps asking for their support of the bill. It only takes 30 seconds to use, no downloads, just go here, plug in your name and town name then send the emails. https://preview--stop-helicopters-over-hudson-county.lovable.app/
Assembly members:
William F. Moen Jr., Chair, District 5, AsmMoen@njleg.org, 856-853-2960 Clinton Calabrese, Vice-Chair, District 36, AsmCalabrese@njleg.org, 201-943-0615 John Allen, District 32, AsmAllen@njleg.org, 201-683-7917 Margie Donlon, M.D., District 11, AswDonlon@njleg.org, 732-383-5116 Donald A. Guardian, District 2, Assistant Minority Whip, AsmGuardian@njleg.org, 609-677-8266 Antwan L. McClellan, District 1, Deputy Minority Leader, AsmMcClellan@njleg.org, 609-778-2012
If your interested in seeing pictures/videos from residents and joining our advocacy join our slack Join me on Slack -- it’s a faster, simpler way to work. Sign up here, from any device: https://join.slack.com/t/stopthechopnynj/shared_invite/zt-31k26pp2f-rT_yqOAdSEUdioU5HnzOPg
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u/purple_grimass 7d ago
It turns out states can’t regulate air travel between different states and within a few miles of EWR, JFK and LGA.
It would take a court all of twelve seconds to throw this out if it were passed. Also, there’s no reason to put people out of business in Atlantic City because you have a problem in Hoboken.
It’s a terribly written bill and everyone on it knows that.
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u/jgweiss Jersey City 7d ago
Also, there’s no reason to put people out of business in Atlantic City because you have a problem in Hoboken.
What if they were dumping toxic waste in Hoboken? Is that still ‘no reason to put people out of business’?
Sorry but pollution is pollution, and anyone in a polluted community would fight it. Noise pollution isn’t terribly different, and I’m sure the suburbanites on this thread would feel the same if the copters were 400 feet from them.
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u/Way2trivial 7d ago
Why is this wanted?
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u/ccd03c 7d ago
I live in Hoboken. We have ~60-100 overhead flights a day coming out of Kearny NJ for tour operators flying to NYC. They fly as low as 300 feet usually 500-750 feet. They run all day from 7am sometimes as late as 10pm. I would really appreciate if NJ folks supported this bill
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u/JimTheJerseyGuy Warren County 7d ago
They will just fly from somewhere else. The FAA would need to get involved to restrict the airspace. But they won’t. Plus, those helicopters have been doing that for decades. Did you just move to the area now and discover this?
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u/al_andaluz 7d ago
Yea I doubt that. 300’ unless for the purpose of takeoff or landing is completely illegal. Unless you were dumb enough to buy a house on the approach or departure en of a runway, this shouldn’t be an issue. And EVEN THEN, you’re just a dumbass who didn’t do due diligence buying a home and bought it within the area of an airport.
Edit: was the airport and helicopter traffic already there when you moved there? Or is that a recent development? /s sounds like somebody didn’t do their research before moving…
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u/jgweiss Jersey City 7d ago
Incredible how this thread is just a bunch of people dotted around nj saying, what the fuck do I care about you?
I agree it’s a huge QOL issue here affecting a LOT of people. But yes as you can tell the suburban set simply doesn’t care, just as they don’t expect me to support fixing their feeder roads like 80, right?
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u/moobycow 7d ago
America in nutshell. Anyway, while I doubt anything will happen here there have been a lot of advancements in recent years helping make new helicopters much quieter. we can hope a lot of these places transition over time, if only because a quieter ride is also better for their customers.
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u/loggerhead632 7d ago
well for one, one is an actual highway and other is a bunch of whiney dipshits crying that a business that predates that by decades is too loud
but sure, totally the same thing
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u/jgweiss Jersey City 7d ago
The helicopter noise comes and goes, when a politician complains about it. It’s doable, just no political will, as we can see from people like you.
IMO, route 80 is a dumbass idea, putting a road on top of a fucking canal. They could have build freight from nj to Brooklyn decades ago (when it was proposed) but we didn’t, cause we’re stupid.
It’s a road; you have other roads that you can take, get over it. See how easy it is to disregard these concerns?
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u/loggerhead632 7d ago
man that inner city education really did you well eh
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u/jgweiss Jersey City 7d ago
I grew up in colts neck, dipshit.
Why are you even on 80 so much? Didn’t you move to…wherever you moved to, because you like being there? Seems shortsighted to me, if you’re spending all this time sitting on 80 to get to somewhere you actually want to go to.
I moved close to the things I wanted to be near, and now I am near them; it’s great!
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u/thederseyjevil 7d ago
I fundamentally have a problem with people moving into a neighborhood and then trying to pass laws to limit or outright destroy other people’s’ businesses because they don’t like them. Maybe you should have done a better job scouting the neighborhood you chose to live in?
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u/Shoddily-Fixed-CL9 7d ago
it's like moving next to a racetrack in the winter then being mad it's in use in the summer, you knew it was there before business started boomin
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u/vaud 6d ago
Yeah, I find it hard to care about a bill banning all tourist flights statewide when OP clearly has an issue with one specific heliport while complaining about noise pollution. Why stop there? If that's the criteria, let's close Teterboro cause of all the low flying planes. I'm under the southern approach to EWR. The constant planes annoy me, they should go fly somewhere else. (/s).
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u/mhsx 7d ago edited 7d ago
I can understand not wanting to live under their flight path all day every day. I grew up 250 feet from the end of a municipal airport’s runway.
Are there limits that could work to reach a compromise? Restrictions that would not eliminate these rides but reduce the impact on people who live on the flight path?
I did a helicopter ride from Kearny a few years ago. It will probably be the only time I ever ride in a helicopter.
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u/Various_Knowledge226 7d ago
Good luck trying to supersede federal regulations. It won’t end well in court. This bill supersedes FAA authority, therefore, it is unconstitutional, as it would violate the Supremacy Clause, at the very least
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u/Zhuul Professional Caffeine Addict 7d ago
Wow, yeah, that's infuriating. This kinda stuff feels inevitable with a state as small as ours, and obviously those tourist flights bring revenue to the state (presumably), but yeah that'd drive me absolutely insane. I'm cool with plane noise, train noise, car traffic noise, but helicopters drive me bananas and these flights aren't really critically important for anything. I hope some kind of satisfactory resolution happens even though I'm way the hell down in Camden County and this doesn't impact me whatsoever.
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u/Content_Print_6521 7d ago
Don't bother. Assemblyman Allen has been a no-show no-do and it on his way out, he does not care.
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u/Severed_Snake 7d ago
last time I was in Hoboken went for a walk by the water it was non stop helicopters. pretty annoying. all that money to live on the water and you have to deal with that it would drive me crazy
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u/Swampit856 7d ago
Not sure why I should care with all the other stuff going on right now. Isn’t this good for small businesses in NJ?
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u/ccd03c 7d ago
If you could care, I would appreciate it. I think that the detriment to the parks, small businesses with outdoor dining, and the communities they fly over isn’t worth however much these companies are worth. And I don’t think that south Kearny has much retail or restraint traffic to benefit from visitors
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u/jgweiss Jersey City 7d ago
Literally south Kearny is a wasteland separated from the rest of the area. These tourists go there in a shuttle and leave in a shuttle. They still spend more time in NY
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u/ccd03c 6d ago
Yes that is one thing I find frustrating about the "economic impact" of these companies as a pro helicopter tour argument. They are polluting our skies with noise and exhaust, burning tons of jet fuel, and people just hop in an uber from NYC, then jump in an Uber straight back. The heliport is located on a peninsula in the middle of the Hackensack/Passaic river confluence surrounded by warehouses. People don't stay in Jersey and spend money after their tour.
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u/PenImpossible874 NYEXIT baby! 7d ago
reposted this on r/NYEXIT because noise pollution is a serious problem.
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u/Lmaoboobs 6d ago
Federal issue.
The only people capable of regulating where things can and cannot fly is the FAA and 90% of those reasons are national security.
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u/PuddingTea 7d ago
- The state can’t regulate this because of federal preemption.
- If you don’t like it you can move instead of destroying commerce.
- I know first hand what you’re talking about and it isn’t that big a deal.
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u/winelover08816 7d ago
You’re gumming up this subreddit with nonsense. This bill won’t ban rich people from flying helicopters in an out of NYC and the airports to avoid traffic on their way to dividing up your and my descendants’ futures. How exactly does this do much except clear the skies for the entitled? There are way more important issues for our legislators to focus on, like home affordability, collapsing roadways, etc.
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u/Salty_Permit4437 7d ago
I don’t think this will fly as this is under the jurisdiction of the FAA.