Just like the powerfully symbolic "empty chair" at political debates, there was an empty chair at a most critical FAA meeting with TVASNAC (Town & Village Aircraft Safety and Noise Committee) last night in the Village of Lawrence. The empty chair was for a board representative from the Village of Floral Park, who should be defending our community against the unbelievable level of air traffic impacting us since the start of a construction project at JFK in April 2005.

Since no representatives from the FAA attended the Floral Park Village Hall meeting that was held in the summer and Mayor Guarnieri ended up "preaching to the choir," last night's meeting was scheduled to include the JFK Air Traffic manager. A representative from the TRACON Tower in Westbury, where the route the planes use is decided, also attended the meeting. This was an historic opportunity for the village residents to have their concerns addressed. There was not one Floral Park elected official at this meeting. There were only five residents, including a volunteer from the Floral Park Noise Abatement Committee. What a message to send to the FAA and neighboring communities that continue to shift their traffic over our homes.

I am one of the more than 100+ people who have repeatedly filed complaints with Village Hall regarding air traffic. I only heard about this meeting by chance and received no formal notification. There was also no information on the village website, nor notices posted in our local papers. Needless to say, the FAA had a field day telling the stunned audience the planes do not have enough room to make turns over communities east of us such as Garden City, which they have been doing for more than three decades and must now come through Floral Park. There is no doubt about the true agenda of the FAA. They want to return us to the early 1970s when planes were coming in 24/7 and they were using two parallel runways simultaneously.

This is an issue that is impacting not only the value of our homes, but with the continuance of cargo flights during the night, the ability to even sell our homes. With our problems now having been reported in The New York Times and on Channel 12 News, this is no time to have "empty chairs."

Bob O'Gorman