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Featured Letter: The FAA must follow law as it’s written

To the editor:

The FAA cannot be allowed to interpret a law, it must, as all must, follow the law. The FAA is making a mockery of the FAA Reauthorization Act, sponsored by Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) and the Congress and president who signed it into law.

Instead of holding “a public hearing in the communities impacted,” it has decided to hold three workshops in only some of the “communities impacted.” The North Fork or Southold Town is a community made up of many seniors, many of whom do not drive at night for safety reasons. Yet the meeting facility is in Riverhead Town and being held in the darkness of night. The FAA must be held accountable to this law and hold public hearings “in the communities impacted” at times readily available to the majority of the population of that community.

There are safety, environmental and quality of life considerations the FAA has never fully addressed. Most of the public have never read the “Federal Register,” yet alone know how to find it to author written documentation. This register is a bureaucratic instrument meant only to meet a requirement, not settle an issue.

The North Shore Route is a bad idea, proposed by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-Brooklyn) who regularly offers only lip service to those who are impacted by it. In fact, if he were not so involved in the Brett Kavanaugh hearings this legislation probably would not have made it through the Senate. It is time the FAA address the long suffering public concerns this route has caused. It is time the FAA comply with the law as written. It is time the FAA show a genuine interest in the public concerns and not continue in an adversary role. There are alternatives to the North Shore Route that will further lessen the population impacted.

That should be the goal of the FAA.

Bob Bittner, Cutchogue