Downtown Manhattanites Want Ban On Tourist Helicopter Flights

NY 1

05/16/2011 10:04 AM

By: NY1 News

Residents living within earshot of the Downtown Manhattan Heliport are calling for a ban on tourist helicopter flights.

Tourist helicopter flights were banned last year from the Heliport on West 30th Street.

"When you have this kind of constant nuisance for every neighborhood in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Upper West Side, Downtown, across town, it just doesn't work," said Manhattan-Brooklyn Senator Daniel Squadron.

"Some will argue this will reduce tourist income to New York City. That is 100-percent wrong. It's unimaginable that some family planning a week-long vacation in New York is not going to come because of a 15-minute or a five-minute helicopter flight," said Manhattan-Brooklyn Representative Jerrold Nadler.

Some city officials say banning tourist helicopters would not necessarily solve the problem and tour operators would simply move their business to New Jersey, taking millions away in tax revenue.

Click here to view this story and watch news video of Senator Squadron