The Burlingame Voice

SFO Runway Noise: Speier Townhall Update

Jackie Speier hosted a two-hour Townhall meeting at Skyline College on Tuesday night to address the issue of SFO airport noise.  It was very well-attended by about 500 people from around her district with a variety of concerns.  Panelists included a former United 747 captain currently on Speier's staff, airport director Ivar Satero and Peter Kirsch, an attorney known for successfully suing airports over noise issues.  For those of us who are embroiled in this issue, much of the agenda was review except for Kirsch's bit that gave a great 20 minute tutorial on the laws about noise.

One challenge with such meetings is one's concerns vary based on where one sits.  Pacifica residents have issues with overhead noise being more concentrated due to NextGen flight paths.  My assessment of their prospects for change/improvement is not hopeful.  Kirsch's legal review and insight left me with the impression that they just have to deal with it.  Similarly, the San Carlos and Menlo Park residents' issues with the San Carlos airport and Surf Air were a little out of scope for the meeting and shunted off to San Mateo County officials.

Finally, after about 90 minutes, during the Q&A, B'gamer Lynn Israelit from SFORunwayNoise.com was able to ask the burning question on behalf of the large Burlingame/Hillsborough contingent present-- "What about the noise from engine run-up and take-off?"  This should have been the main focus of the meeting since on-the-ground noise is solely the responsibility of the airport--not the FAA who were not present and have total authority over airborne noise.  We got some insight from Satero about two kinds of ground noise:  initial start-up noise and "start of roll" reflected noise.  Noise from the maintenance bays was not mentioned.  He also mentioned a study of ground noise from 2000 that was done.  The big news was that a new study has been commissioned to update the 18 year old study, but no timing was given.

The most encouraging part of the evening was the impression Jackie Speier left of being engaged on the runway noise concerns.  She was home (in Hillsborough) recovering from surgery over the summer and that meant she finally felt our pain.  Windows rattling, low frequency noise, loud noise, 3 am departures--the whole panoply of problems.  Now it remains to be seen if mustering her political pressure and legal pressure can result in some improvements in our quality of life and sleep.

Another Time, This Place

I don't want to push the misplaced Stop Sign post down from the top, but the Voice needs to stay fresh so here is a little "thought piece" that starts 69 years ago.  If you find it boring, just scroll down to comment on stop signs, scooters, wildfires, SFO runway noise, our lack of water security, BHS woes, empty stores on the Avenew, etc, etc.

I always loved Herb Caen's take on EssEff life.  In the '80s and '90s, I read him every day and twice on Sundays.  I also read and reread his books.  His 1949 classic, Baghdad by the Bay, starts off chapter 28 with this paragraph

San Francisco, brought to life by the lusty, gusty roars of the gold seekers, has never taken itself too seriously.  From the very start there has been life and laughter in Baghdad-by-the-Bay, with every citizen a potential comedian, every stuffed shirt the inevitable butt of a joke, every facet of the city's life wide open to the snide observation.

Herb would be so disappointed by the EssEff of 2018.  There are so many stuffed shirts strutting around SF that it is positively regressive--in a progressive sort of way.  The City is a mess and I am afraid the effluent will taint B'game even more than it already has.  It's bad enough that they control our water supply, let their airport disrupt our sleep and keep trying to make socialist rent control seem mainstream.  The November ballot will be packed with sneakily written propositions and innocent claims about dangerous initiatives.  Let's hope we can channel Herb Caen and keep our sense of humor and whatever the noun is that goes with "snide".

SFO Runway Noise Response

We noted the two runway noise meetings being held by local activists on June 21st here.  Both meetings went off as planned and offered a lot of information and a plan to hopefully force SFO and its owner, the City of San Francisco, to investigate what has changed for the worse since 2015 --and maybe even do something about it.  One of the things I learned at the meeting are that the noise limits that are in place are purely voluntary by the pilots and there are little if any penalties for not following the guidance.  Some airlines are known to be worse offenders than others.  The standard is more than 40 years old and does not account for high and low frequencies.  Also, back in 2011 the County Grand Jury found that the Airport Roundtable was experiencing "diminishing effectiveness".  Given that the Airport Roundtable is the one body that local politicians and city staff have for interacting officially with airport officials, that "diminishing effectiveness" is of great concern.  It hasn't improved in the last seven years!

The airport has reacted like any bureaucracy would in response to legal inquiries about noise.  In a case mentioned during the meeting, they responded with 118,000 pages of "documentation".  We know from a commenter here at the Voice that certain changes in "engineered arresting materials" have been implemented and may be partially the cause of the nerve-wracking noise that we hear far too often.  Just try to find it in 118,000 pages.

The Plan:  The three women behind SFORunwaynoise.com have come up with a plan of attack based on a similar civil action that took place in B'game decades ago and worked.  By getting many B'game and H'borough people to file small claims against the City of SF, which they will naturally deny, residents can build up enough of a record to go to Small Claims court en masse.  It's worth a try.

In the meantime you can enroll at Flightware.com to see which noisy plane is disrupting your afternoon conversation in the yard or your attempt to get to sleep at 1:30 am.  The list of 1:30 am departures is very enlightening (see below).  Is there any reason why three flights to Taiwan or two to Hong Kong cannot leave at a decent hour?  I can't think of one.  Here's the form to fill out to join the effort--get one by emailing SFOrunwaynoise@gmail.com.

CAL3	B77W	Taiwan Taoyuan Int'l (TPE)	01:51a PDT		05:16a CST
EVA27	B77W	Taiwan Taoyuan Int'l (TPE)	01:46a PDT		04:59a CST
CMP383	B738	Tocumen Int'l (PTY)	01:38a PDT		10:24a EST
TAI561	A320	El Salvador Int'l (SAL)	01:36a PDT		07:59a CST
EVA17	B77W	Taiwan Taoyuan Int'l (TPE)	01:32a PDT		04:44a CST
SIA1	B77W	Hong Kong Int'l (HKG)	01:28a PDT		05:31a HKT
FJI871	A332	Nadi Int'l (NAN)	01:20a PDT		07:01a +12
CPA873	B77W	Hong Kong Int'l (HKG)	01:16a PDT		05:47a HKT
UAL2364	B752	Newark Liberty Intl (EWR)	01:12a PDT		09:12a EDT
UAL9	B788	Chengdu Shuangliu Int'l (CTU)	01:09a PDT		05:18a CST
UAL1197	B738	Houston Bush Int'ctl (IAH)	01:08a PDT		06:36a CDT

SFO: A Chance to Speak Up

Here at the Voice we don't do a lot of pre-advertising for meetings or events, but big issues like the Lyon-Hoag traffic problems or SFO noise do prompt us to alert you all.  Here is your chance to speak up about SFO noise which has been bad the last couple of nights, again....

Come join a group of local Burlingame and Hillsborough residents at an informational meeting to discuss this issue and learn how we can address this problem. We will be holding 2 meetings at the Burlingame Public Library:

Thursday, June 21 at 11 AM and

Thursday, June 21 at 7 PM

Please RSVP to SFOrunwaynoise@gmail.com with the time that works best for you. We look forward to working together on a solution for all! Final meeting location details will be provided to folks who have RSVP'd.

Recall we addressed this with the SFOrunwaynoise team back in August of last year here.  You can remind yourselves of the state of the conversation before the June meetings.

Blood Moon Over B'game

I set my alarm for 5:20 am this morning and went outside to a beautiful clear sky cradling the Super Blue Blood Moon high in the western sky.  It was really something to see and just as interesting an hour and a half later as the eclipse waned and the outline of the full moon was visible, but the brightly lit portion looked just like a normal half moon.  Neither my phone nor my camera did it justice, so I have plucked the Phoenix New Times photo that I think shows the best view to share here.  The middle blood moon was at 5:20 am and the second from the left at 6:45am.

More to the local angle was the noise level at 5:20 am.  The first southbound Caltrain rolls through B'game at 5:22 and the first northbound one rolls through B'game at 5:32.  Gates drop, signals clang, horns sound for longer than really seems necessary.  Several commenters have mentioned the San Mateo pols who travelled to DC to try to get some rail horn relief and expressed their hope that B'game would add its voice to the chorus.  The airport noise is quite loud even on a clear day and you can read up on that problem here.  I remain opposed to 5 am aircraft departures, but that is apparently another thing that needs a major rule change.  I'm not sure when Recology starts picking up trash and recycling, but it sounded like it was before 5:20 am which also seems too early.  Russ has covered the onset of construction noise starting promptly at 8 am here.  The point is B'game could be quieter if we keep demanding that it be.

SFO: Louder and More Often

I recently had a good talk with a neighbor about the noise emanating from SFO.  Sally Meakin has gone to a lot of effort to get informed and to rally the locals to do something about the noise.  My main concern has been about the noise in the middle of the night and we discussed a curfew here.  Sally is taking a more holistic approach to noise at all times of the day and night.  She believes it has gotten worse lately and that has spurred her to action.  She has attended several Airport Roundtable meeting and toured the SFO Noise Center (that might not be the exact name).  She believes that SFO is not well-equipped to determine which airlines, which planes and which patterns cause the worst noise.  I also believe many residents have stopped complaining to SFO because it really doesn't do any good.

Sally has created a website to address the problems and a possible course of action.  You can visit sforunwaynoise.com for a lot of background material.  She has researched what B'gamers did many years ago to get concessions from SFO and thinks a similar approach may work again.  It involves people filing small claims en masse against San Francisco (which owns SFO).  I agree with her--the noise has become a public nuisance and I also believe it is hurting people's health and energy levels and possibly their driving safety.  Sally has also made up lawn signs which are available from the website.

We have a new Voice category-- SFO Airport-- that is long overdue.  Go Sally, Go.

SFO Woes

Here's wishing Voice readers an early happy Memorial Day.  Many of you will be travelling so this warning may be useful

Major flight delays and numerous cancellations are expected at San Francisco International Airport this Memorial Day weekend because of maintenance work that needs to be completed on the tarmac before the summer rush, officials said Monday.  

A $35 million repaving project scheduled for weekends this spring was supposed to be put on hold this Saturday and Sunday to accommodate holiday travel. But after the work fell behind, officials decided they couldn’t afford to take the weekend off.

I got back from a trip last night and got a surprise at SFO (which isn't easy given how much I have traveled in and out of SFO over the last 30+ years).  The surprise was a 50 minute wait for a gate to become available to park the plane.  We were about 10 minutes early and then sat on the tarmac...and sat...and sat.  We eventually had to taxi to another bit of tarmac to get out of other planes' way.  The United pilot said he had never seen anything like it.

Time for an SFO Curfew?

With the arrival of some nice winter storms comes the loud flights over B'game from SFO.  As a heavy traveler myself, I don't want to suggest doing anything that would make getting into or out of SFO any more difficult.  But.  Perhaps it is time to press for a late night curfew on departures when the airport is in the storm pattern mode.  The low hanging, loud noise directly over the residential part of the mid-Peninsula was close to unbearable last night until well after midnight.

There is a rush of departures at 10 pm as East Coast redeyes and European flights leave and they have to be allowed to get out.  Storms slow everything down and can push these flights past midnight, but there has to be a limit.  People have to get up for work in the morning so there has to be a balance.

From the Council assignments (see item 8a on the consent calendar here) that were confirmed last night Ricardo Ortiz will remain our rep on the Airport Round Table that meets quarterly.  That would be a good place to broach the topic.  What say you, Voice commentators?  Here are the runways that come right at us in reverse operations.