Monday, December 10, 2012
FAA considering local body's decision.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Monday, December 10, 2012
According to the Southwest Journal, last month's Metropolitan Airports Commission vote isn't the last local residents have heard of the airport noise issue. MAC had voted to withhold its support for an FAA initiative, which would have organized outbound flights passing over Southwest Minneapolis into a small number of corridors passing over the area. Local residents underneath the proposed new flight paths objected, and convinced MAC to support the FAA plan only for flights passing over parts of Eagan and the Minnesota River. The proposal would have meant that some blocks would see a very large increase in overflights. Currently, departing airplanes follow a number of different paths, subjecting more homes to their noise than under the new…
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Local essayist muses on fraught subject.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Last month's fight over airport noise and new flight paths may have been full of pain and vitriol, but one Minneapolitan is trying to find beauty in the airplanes that fly over Southwest Minneapolis every day. For the most recent entry in his MinnPost column about places around the Twin Cities, called "The Stroll," Sturdevant traveled to Minneapolis' so-called "Deep South" neighborhoods and turned his gaze skyward: As irritating as this residential airport racket can be – and I live in Powderhorn, which gets its own share of overhead air traffic – there is something vaguely romantic about the ubiquity of these jetliners, bringing in thousands of visitors to the cities every minute of the day. Inspired by the planes' colorful livery to the …
Sunday, November 25, 2012
This week's selection includes a new store that creates new clothes from old, two amputees who share their stories with students, and an important coin toss.
Editor’s Note: Every week we will bring you a sampling of stories from Patch sites in the west metro: Eden Prairie, Edina, Fridley, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Lake Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Richfield, Southwest Minneapolis, St. Louis Park and St. Michael. Minneapolis Teen Charged In Multi-City High-Speed Chase Burglary suspects led police on a chase for 17 miles early Tuesday morning. The chase ended in Maple Grove, where three men were arrested. MAC Nixes Flight Pattern Shifts for Edina Skies Edina skies are safe for the time being, after the Metropolitan Airports Commission opted to nix a major shift in flight patterns over select swaths of the city. Owner Says Prices Will Be Cheap at New Liquor Store in St. Louis Park …
Monday, November 19, 2012
Southwest Minneapolis, Richfield, Edina get reprieve from new routes.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Monday, November 19, 2012
Area residents’ ears are safe—for now. According to Fox 9, the commission governing the Twin Cities airports will let the FAA implement a new set of flight paths over Mendota Heighs, Eagan, and the Minnesota Valley, but will leave the current system in place in Minneapolis, Richfield, and Edina. FAA officials told the Metropolitan Airports Commission that the split implementation will delay any implementation on either side of the Minnesota River until 2014. "Organizing works," tweeted Southwest Minneapolis' City Councilmember Betsy Hodges (Ward 13), shortly after MAC took their vote. FAA officials had asked the Metropolitan Airports Commission to endorse a set of technologies called RNAV and PBN, the technologies would allow air traffic …
MAC asked to aprove a plan increasing overflights over some neighborhoods.
Monday at 1 p.m., the Metropolitan Airports Commission is scheduled to meet to consider endorsing a new suite of technologies, championed by the FAA, that could send hundreds of airplanes flying over a narrow swath of Southwest Minneapolis. Called RNAV and PBN, the technologies would allow air traffic controllers to concentrate flight paths—currently scattered across much of Southwest Minneapolis—into a select few "highways in the sky." This would result in a small section of blocks seeing a dramatic increase in overflights. Local residents and elected officials have been lobbying MAC not to endorse the new technologies yet, effectively postponing their implementation in Minneapolis for a year. Over the weekend, news emerged that MAC …
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Minneapolis state senator claims MAC chairman has assembled enough votes.
According to TheUptake's Mike McIntee, Southwest Minneapolis residents dreading the arrival of hundreds of planes overhead may get a reprieve on Monday. In an interview on McIntee's Friday radio show on AM 950, Southwest Minneapolis' state Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-61) said Metropolitan Airports Commission Chairman Dan Boivin has assembled enough votes on the 14-member board that governs MAC to delay implementation of a controversial new technology called RNAV. The MAC commissioners are scheduled to meet Monday to vote on whether to endorse the change, which was requested by the FAA. If MAC does not endorse the change by the end of November, the FAA must delay implementation for approximately year. Boivin did not immediately return Patch's …
Friday, November 16, 2012
New FAA plan running into local opposition.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Friday, November 16, 2012
A new set of navigational technologies proposed by the Federal Aviation Administration could dramatically increase the numbers of airplanes flying over certain houses in Southwest Minneapolis. The planned introduction of those technologies has run into opposition from area residents, members of the Minneapolis City Council, and members of Minnesota's delegation to the state legislature. Maps provided by the MSP airport Noise Oversight Committee, posted above, show the FAA predicts that traffic will dramatically increase over narrow swaths of Southwest Minneapolis. According to maps in a 2011 noise survey conducted by MAC, posted above, this traffic is currently distributed much more widely over Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. …
City Council also opposed.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Friday, November 16, 2012
Update 12:17 p.m. 11/16/12: Much of the Southwest Minneapolis legislative delegation has signed on to Hornstein's letter opposing the RNAV technology changes. The letter is posted at right. "Before RNAV is pursued further, we need more information," the letter reads. "Our constituents deserve the opportunity to give input. The process that has been offered thus far has not been adequate for this significant change to airport operations." The legislators also called for studying the impact of RNAV as part of a larger study of the airport's future. State Sens. Scott Dibble (DFL-61), Patricia Torres-Rey (DFL-63) and Jeff Hayden (DFL-62), have affixed their names to the letter, along with state Reps. Frank Hornstein (DFL-61A), Susan Allen (…
Plan proposes more overflights for fewer people.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Friday, November 16, 2012
In a decision likely to upset some Southwest Minneapolis homeowners but please others, a committee that advises the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) on airplane noise voted to endorse an FAA plan to reroute flights over Southwest Minneapolis. The FAA hopes to use two new technologies, called RNAV and PBN, to shunt flights into narrow departure corridors. The technology will make air traffic control safer, the FAA says. See the numbers of planes brought in by the new navigational technologies, called RNAV and PBN. Southwest Minneapolis' legislators are attacking the proposals and calling for more time. "It's a quality of life issue," Fulton resident Sara Thompson told Patch. Thompson and her block are trying to organize their fellow …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Plan would set up flight "lanes," some of which run over Southwest Minneapolis.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Have an opinion about the Metropolitan Airports Commission's new plan to redirect air traffic over Southwest Minneapolis? Then mark out either Thursday or Tuesday evening in your calendars—the MAC is holding two public meetings on its new plan, which could see more planes directed over a smaller slice of the city. The Nov. 8 meeting will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Crosstown Covenant Church at 5540 30th Avenue South in Minneapolis. The Nov. 13 meeting takes place at the Eagan Community Center at 1501 Central Parkway, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. According to the Star-Tribune, the FAA wants to fully implement a new set of navigation technologies at the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport. The plan pushes airplanes into…
SMAAC [-- Jim Spensley]
3:15 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The FAA's "initiative" is " (assessing) the relationship between separation standards, emerging technological concepts (PBN, Next Gen) and new procedures for use in developing future airspace separation minima. The branch conducts research, testing and validation of advanced aviation separation and airspace concepts in analytical and modeled environments to determine its technical and operational… more ›