Encouraging Community Members To Express Views During Public Comment Session
Residents of Alameda’s Harbor Bay Isle community, especially those nearest the runways of Oakland Airport, are no strangers to loud, sometimes intrusive and window rattling jet engine aircraft noise emanating from the busy travel spot.
Many of them are all too familiar with skins of black soot, presumably from jet aircraft exhaust particulates, layered on their cars and other outdoor surfaces.
As The Port Of Oakland, the Oakland airport’s parent agency, seeks to expand freight and passenger service by adding as many as 16 new passenger gates and potentially increase air cargo loads from 600,000 tons per year to 820,000, community members and a homegrown civic action group, Citizens League for Airport Safety and Serenity (CLASS) plan to renew their call for impact mitigation at the Oct 3 Alameda City Council meeting.
Their message to the council is intended to enhance its support for mitigation through the final draft of an official statement from the City Of Alameda.
That statement has been or will be filed, and possibly revised, during the current period for public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Report concerning airport expansion, according to Matt Pourfarzaneh, President of CLASS in an interview with ANN.
The Draft EIR public comment window closes at 5 p.m. on 10/16 and interested persons can view a copy of it at Alameda’s Main Library at 1550 Oak St.
Three council members, Mayor Ashcraft, Vice Mayor Tony Daysog and Councilperson Trish Spencer have expressly given support for CLASS’ overall goals, according to Pourfarzaneh.
He did not indicate whether or not CLASS had conveyed its request for support from Councilpersons Malia Vella and the Council’s newest member, Tracy Jensen.
“The City supports this very important noise mitigation,” said Pourfarzaneh, , adding that reducing the environmental disruption of jet engine dissonance is CLASS’ top priority, followed by reducing aircraft and ground based air pollution emissions.
Pourfarzaneh also expressed the need for placement of more air quality monitors closer to Harbor Bay Island and Alameda to accurately assess the severity of airport generated air pollution.
There is currently a total of six State And Local Air Monitoring Systems (SLAMS) for the region encompassing San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Marin and Contra Costa Counties.
Pourfazarian’s longer terms goal is to generate as large a number of community member comments on the matter as possible. “It is better to have 1,000 complaints coming from individuals than to have 10,000 coming from just thirty to forty people,” he said.
Persons wishing to voice their views for or against matters related to the Oakland Airport expansion, the City’s written statement or the Draft EIR may do so in person in the Alameda City Council Chambers on Tuesday, Oct 3, 7:00 pm , during the public comments sessions.
City Council protocol allows for a maximum of two to three minutes per speaker, depending on the number that formally intend to speak.
The public may view the official Agenda Item, 7-A, at the City Council Meeting Agenda page online, by visiting the City Of Alameda’s website, clicking on the “Your Government: tab and then on the “Meetings, Agenda, Minutes and Videos” option.
