Noise complaints have been soaring in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn since tourist helicopters were relocated from the West Side Heliport, elected officials complained yesterday.
“The fact that there’s now a single site in Manhattan for tourist-helicopter flights is a big part of why a bad problem is a whole lot worse,” said state Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn), who said his staff arrived at work Monday to find 50 e-mail complaints about chopper noise.
Traffic at the South Street Seaport heliport is up 10 percent over a year ago, says its owner, the city Economic Development Corp.
But the data only go up to March 31, the day before all tourist flights moved downtown.
Squadron and fellow local lawmakers want Mayor Bloomberg and the EDC to curb the chopper traffic, which has turned the area’s airspace into the “wild west,” residents said.
Tourist flights from the West Side Heliport were capped at 12,500 in the 12 months before they went downtown.
An EDC spokesman said the agency is working on a solution to the problem, but declined to be specific.
Brooklyn residents say they noticed a big increase in chopper traffic during the Easter and Passover weekend.
“The noise is constant and unbearable,” said Brooklyn Heights resident Eileen Dirnfeld.