The Gull's Call - April/May/June 2024

by Jon Hamilton, CLASS, President

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OU WILL RECALL THAT ALL RESPONSES TO THE OAK airport expansion draft environmental review (DEIR) were due in October. Both the CLASS and the Alameda City responses were robust in questioning many aspects of the proposed airport expansion. As residents of Harbor Bay, one should be secure in the understanding that the right response was made for that phase. Now we face the next phase of the project. OAK airport has stated in conversation with CLASS that due to the overwhelming responses, they will not be making any additional announcements likely for the rest of 2024. This does not mean that they are not working behind closed doors with modifications to the plans or perhaps just providing a rebuttal to all points brought up. On March 14th, CLASS, the City of Alameda, KJOB (a Berkeley aircraft noise group), and a representative from San Leandro, were present at the Port of Oakland Board of Directors meeting. The goal of the meeting was to make sure that the Port Board, which oversees the OAK airport operations, was fully aware of the breadth of concerns that the communities adjacent to the airport have regarding both current operations, as well as any expansion of the OAK airport. Numerous members of the community came forward to both show their concerns at the City Council last year, and in their written responses to the DEIR. As well during this

period, the number of noise complaints doubled. This was highlighted at the January OAK airport public noise forum. Speaking of this, we had a few residents of Harbor Bay show up at the noise forum in January, which is great. But we, as a concerned community, need to show up in much larger numbers to be heard by the FAA, which will be present at the next meeting. UPCOMING NOISE FORUM MEETING April 17th at 6:30 PM Port of Oakland Offices in Jack London Square, 530 Water Street, 2nd Floor Boardroom Please mark your calendars and join with your neighbors and attend. A big showing will help our cause. Until then, take a look at our website, classalameda.com, and learn how to place a noise complaint. Make it a point to register loud aircraft on a regular basis, along with your neighbors. If you don't make noise complaints, the FAA and Congress say that there must not be a problem and we as a community will fail in limiting noise. Last, but not least, is our call to Harbor Bay residents to join Class. Currently we have 4 volunteers from Harbor Bay, including our most recent member, Hao Zhidong (Zee). Please extend a hearty welcome to Zee and reach out via an email to join CLASS; info@classalameda.com. REGISTER YOUR AIRPLANE NOISE COMPLAINT flyquietoak.com/community/file - noise - complaint CALL 510.563.6463 SCAN THE QR CODE BELOW

The more people that call and complain, the more responsive the airport will be. Let ’ s work together to reduce airport noise. This is your opportunity to improve your quality of life in Harbor Bay.

www.classalameda.com • info@classalameda.com

April | May | June 2024 17

The Gull’s Call