Yesterday, the North Beacon Hill Council sent a letter to the FAA and to the elected officials representing Southeast Seattle in the United States Senate and House. The letter was also released to neighborhood mailing lists and other neighborhood news sources.

The deadline for public comment to the FAA is today.

Here’s the notice sent out by the NBHC yesterday:

Thank you to everyone organizing efforts to extend the FAA comment period regarding the “Greener Skies Over Seattle” proposal. We’re sending this letter by mail, addresses to follow. We encourage you to use this as a template for communicating with our elected officials. The current deadline for public comment is 9/14.

Greener Skies EA
Augustin Moses, AJV-W2
Federal Aviation Administration
1601 Lind Avenue SW
Renton, WA 98057
comments@greenerskiesea.com

Senator Patty Murray
2988 Jackson Federal Building
915 2nd Avenue
Seattle, WA 98174

Senator Maria Cantwell
915 Second Avenue
Suite 3206
Seattle, WA 98174

Congressman Adam Smith
2402 Rayburn Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515

Congressman Jim McDermott
1809 7th Ave
Seattle, WA 98101

Over 60 concerned neighbors attended the North Beacon Hill Community Council meeting on September 11th. Our neighborhood consensus is that the recent ‘Greener Skies’ public outreach meetings didn’t meet the needs of our community. (September 5, 2012, Federal Way Library and September 6, 2012 Ballard Branch Library)

The NBHC Board is concerned that the large populations of low-income, elderly, minority and other residents living within the 98144, 98118, and 98108 zip code areas did not have an opportunity to participate in the public process. Furthermore the meeting format made it nearly impossible to have questions answered in any kind of understandable or meaningful way.

We are requesting that you help hold the FAA accountable to:

• Hold meetings in Southeast Seattle within the 98144, 98118 and 98108 zip codes
• Offer translated outreach materials and simultaneous translation to at least four languages during the meeting
• Host meetings in a wheelchair accessible facility
• Conduct outreach by postal mail and other non-electronic methods of notification to all citizens impacted by this proposal

Southeast Seattle is affected by THREE airports; Boeing Field, Renton Airport, and Sea-Tac Airport. We are the MOST negatively affected community in the region. We need to have a better public process, with more outreach, and at a time and place which will ensure more community awareness and engagement in these important air traffic changes.

Thank you,

North Beacon Hill Council Board
Melissa Jonas, Chair
2821 Beacon Ave. S.
Seattle, WA 98144

Many of the 60+ attendees at last night’s North Beacon Hill Council (NBHC) meeting were there to discuss their concerns with the proposed FAA changes—and especially the confusion and frustration about location and tone of the FAA outreach meetings.

The lively discussion included a succinct yet thorough history by Magnolia Community Council Chair Robert Bismuth of how Magnolia successfully defended airspace above their neighborhood from changes that would have have “exponentially” increased noise and pollution.

NBHC Board member Ticiang Diangson is working with community activists from Beacon Hill and other neighborhoods to form a task force to address concerns regarding the “Greener Skies Over Seattle” proposal. (See the FAA’s website about the project here.)

If that FAA link seemed confusing or overly technical to you, you’re not alone. The NBHC voted unanimously last night to support efforts by the task force regarding “Greener Skies” to extend the public comment period on the FAA Environmental Assessment until the FAA has given residents of potentially-impacted communities the opportunity to learn more about the project. The current comment period ends on September 14. (Addresses to submit comments are here.)

The NBHC is asking Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Congressman Jim McDermott and Adam Smith to request the FAA hold public outreach meetings regarding “Greener Skies Over Seattle” in Southeast Seattle (of course, we’d prefer Beacon Hill), and also to extend the comment period beyond September 14 to give the FAA an opportunity to correct problems with outreach—and give our communities the opportunity to understand this proposal. Outreach materials need to be offered in the languages read by our communities and translation must be offered during the meetings.

(Melissa Jonas is the current chair of the North Beacon Hill Council.)