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The plane truth in Somerville
By adamg on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 8:27am
City considers suit against federal government to reduce the number of planes flying overhead.
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Comments
Statistics
The graph was interesting, and while a city official says that wind statistics don't support the use of the runway, I'd like to see that data too. There have been a few times on seemingly calm days that the runway is used a little bit, but most of the times I've heard the planes for extended periods the wind is coming from the west or northwest.
Open Space and Rivers Part of the Issue
Near as I can tell, they like to route planes over the Mystic River estuary and then over the Fells. I live in Medford and the flyovers can get quite loud. I'm not talking "I'm whining because a plane went over way up" loud, but "when cloud cover is low they can rattle windows and shake things on shelves" sort of loud - not trivial and very frequent.
I suspect they like to route them over unoccupied land and water, having been on a fair number of planes that swerved over my neighborhood at low altitude. I'd bet that goes double when weather is foul and the ceiling is low.
The one good thing about all this bad weather
Is it tends to keep the planes from flying over my neighborhood.
So let me ask this, if
So let me ask this, if Somerville is "too dense" for air traffic increases which city should these additional planes fly over instead? Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Winthrop? Are they all not almost as dense as Somerville? Logan is in the middle of a city... The one solution I can think of is increasing traffic at the smaller regional airports like RI, Manchester and Hanscom.
How about ...
Boston Harbor? Then they can turn them around to get wherever they are headed at a higher altitude.
Yes I know that the wind direction matters.
They tried that
But all that noise was very disruptive to the serenity of the Minute Man National Park and Old North Bridge.
Im well aware, but this is a
Im well aware, but this is a regional problem and everyone needs to pay their part. They rebeled and somehow were let off the hook.
I suggest we put an additional tax on every flight out of Logan that would be used to retrofit those houses in the flight path. You become exempt from the tax when you can prove your primary residence is in fact on a flight path.
People from the Bedford area use Fedex and fly just like the rest of us, with their income averages maybe more often than many of us, its only fair that they share the burden. Not for nothing , but Boston has quite a few historical landmarks that I am sure are affected by the air traffic.
Regionalization
I always thought they should have converted the old South Weymouth Naval Air Station into a regional airport when it closed. A new interchange/access road to Route 3 could have been built too. Oh well, it's too late now.
Furthermore, if you draw a
Furthermore, if you draw a straight line taking off from Runway 33L, your path already takes you much closer to Chelsea, Everett, Malden & Medford than it does to Somerville. I suppose a certain number of domestic flights will bank left to turn towards the west/south. But I know for a fact that many of the bigger (and therefore louder) planes taking off from that runway are trans-atlantic flights and bank to the right away from Somerville and towards my house in Melrose. So I really don't see how Somerville is uniquely and unfairly affected by Logan traffic.
Sounds reasonable to me
Provided the people of Somerville have already taken the logical step of not using planes to get anywhere. It's completely understandable that planes that aren't used by any Somervillains should not be flying over their city!
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Hmmm...
So are Slumerville residents going to complain when they get their precious Green Line extension, and have to deal with the ear-piercing screeching of the trolley wheels?
I grew up about a mile from a major military base. Several times a day, huge -- I mean HUGE -- planes (as in planes that carried smaller planes) would barrel over the horizon right out the window. What did I and my neighbors do?
We just dealt with it. No complaints. In fact, when I headed off to college, I actually missed the consistent rumbling noise. But maybe that's just me.
What about accommodating Somerville's request, and charging any resident of that city a surcharge on any plane ticket that flies out of Logan?
Yup
They already are complaining about the possible noise. I'm not one of them. Bring it on. I already love the sound of the thundering locomotives -- on tracks that have been active for more than 100 years.
Shh! No one's mentioned the bing-bong when the doors close! I wonder if I'll be able to hear it?
Commuter Rail Right of Way
I'm sure those durned electric trains will drown out the lovely sound of those hulking, roaring, honking Diesel Lowell line commuter trains!
Dagnabbit!
Somerville
There was a mentioning on Boston Condos that Somerville is the #1 most densely populated city in New England, even more than Boston.
Density of Somerville
Somerville has that distinction because we have no large parks, cemeteries, golf courses, or lakes, unlike Boston or Cambridge. Almost all of Somerville's land is built up, and most of it is residential.
(BTW, your link is to the main page of the condo site rather than to the specific page you are referring to. I can't even find the Somerville article or page on that site. Where is it?)
Cemeteries?
They don't factor into the population?
;o)
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Most denseley populated
Wikipedia & Somerville Apartments both mention that fact too...
Somerville is rich in parks... more so than most urban cities in th country.
Everywhere you look there's a park. It's just that Somerville is almost completely "city"... triple deckers, etc.