FAA agrees to air-noise forum

Staten Islanders soon will get a chance to sound off about jet noise during a Town Hall Meeting with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Members of Sen. Hillary Clinton's staff requested the forum during a meeting with FAA officials yesterday, and the FAA agreed.

The date and time of the meeting haven't yet been set.

The FAA is gearing up to present its decision in August on the first redesign in decades of the region's airspace.

The last public meetings held on Staten Island were in February 2006, but only 11 people showed up to express their opinions of the FAA's plans, including a possible nighttime routing of some flights over the Arthur Kill and the borough's West Shore.

"It is only fair that we have an open dialogue between Staten Island residents and the FAA before moving forward with a plan that could dramatically affect the community," Mrs. Clinton said.

Borough President James Molinaro has complained that there was not a single mention of Staten Island in the FAA's recently issued 66-page document about noise impacts on the region connected to the redesign.