Speaker 5: Thank you. We'll go to item six. Quick read.
Speaker 6: Item six is a report from the office. Councilwoman Jeri Ships Key and Councilmember Gary DeLong with a recommendation to request the city manager to direct the airport director to provide a report on how the City of Long Beach will participate in discussions with the FAA to reduce helicopter noise.
Speaker 9: Councilmember Schepisi Thank you, Mr. Mayor. In January, President Obama signed into law what is called the Los Angeles County Residential Helicopter Noise Relief Act. That, among other items, requires the FAA to look at a variety of ways to reduce helicopter noise in Los Angeles County, including mapping new routes to avoid homes, looking at flying at higher altitudes and developing a complaint system. The law was put forward by the federal legislators who share the concern of residents in the city of Long Beach, who live in neighborhoods that are begging for relief from the constant noise from helicopters. And what I would request, I think I. Mr. West. Yes, Mr. Rodriguez. Okay. Yes. Yes. We could hear from staff, because I met with Mr. Rodriguez today and they are going to issue a report. But I think that would be an order right now.
Speaker 0: Yeah. Mayor, members of the city council will be more than.
Speaker 10: Glad to issue a report as to what we have done.
Speaker 0: Up to this point.
Speaker 10: And will we be doing in the future with this issue. So we'll be issuing a two from four.
Speaker 9: Okay. All right. I would make a motion that we request the city manager to direct the airport director to provide a report on how the city of Long Beach is going to participate in the discussions with the FAA to reduce helicopter noise.
Speaker 5: Motion the second. Second. All right. Any council discussion. And remember the public question, just the council on this item. If so, please come forward. Identify yourself if you see the yellow light. You have about a half a minute left.
Speaker 4: Thank you. The first two members of the city council. My name is Diamond Sievers, and I reside in Bluff Heights. I'm also a member of the Bluff Heights Neighborhood Association, and the masks are on the board of the Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition. I'd like to first express my appreciation to Council Membership Scheme and DeLong for bringing this issue of helicopter noise abatement back to the city Council's attention this evening is my hope that the Council unanimously vote in support of Long Beach as active participation in resolving the helicopter noise over our schools and our homes. During this year, the FAA will be holding meetings with residents and the helicopter industry to determine if voluntary members excuse me, monitoring measures have made significant improvement. With regards to helicopter noise in L.A. County, the FAA will only be required to pass mandatory regulations if the voluntary measures are not successful. The Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition has participated in all major efforts related to helicopter noise since 2011, and no tangible, voluntary solutions has been found thus far. The issues are further complicated due to the lack of a county wide, a complete system, a lack of any criteria for determining if progress has been made or any baseline data. So it will be problematic to determine if significant progress has been made during the year. It is therefore necessary for Long Beach to be very active and vocal throughout this FAA process. Two other issues I'd like to quickly address and point out to the City Council, which may impact aviation noise and Long Beach. The first one is that the city of Santa monica and the FAA are in a debate regarding the future of the Santa monica Santa monica Airport. If Santa monica Airport is closed or if the runway is shortened, there may very well be a large number of aircraft looking to relocate in L.A. County. Long Beach already has approximately 60 helicopters housed at our airport. And although Santa monica has only a small number of helicopters, I would suggest that we should certainly would not want additional helicopters, and we would want to be vigilant with regards to any additional fixed wing aircraft using Long Beach as a home base. In addition, there has been a proposal to open a new heliport at L.A.X. A decision regarding the heliport has not been made. And I would suggest, again, that this could negatively impact helicopter activity over Long Beach. The Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition has submitted a letter opposing the request for a helicopter heliport in LAX. A copy of that letter is being emailed to the city council members, but I took the liberty the same name and brought you copies of the letter. I thought it might be important for you to look at that as we approach this issue of L.A.X. possibly adding to the confusion and the noise over L.A. County with a new heliport. Again, I greatly appreciate the city council and the Long Beach Airport staff working on behalf of the residents in Long Beach. And I would hope that the action of the Long Beach City Council tonight to actively participate in the upcoming FAA meetings will become a model for the other cities in Long Beach, excuse me, in L.A. to emulate. Thank you.
Speaker 5: Thank. Thank you. Mr. Councilmember. Should.
Speaker 9: Yes, Mr. Mayor, I'd like to thank Councilmember DeLong for co-sponsoring this and like to point out to the public that the city of Long Beach was one of the cities supporting the 2000 313 Los Angeles Residential Helicopter Noise Relief Act. So the city has been on record for quite a bit that we'd like to participate and support this. So with that.
Speaker 5: We have a motion in the second on item on item six, please cast your vote.
Speaker 6: Councilmember Now motion carries seven votes.
Speaker 5: Item seven Cllr Cary.
Recommendation to request City Manager to direct Airport Director to provide a report on how the City of Long Beach will participate in discussions with the FAA to reduce helicopter noise.