A helicopter takes off from Lower Manhattan to torture Brooklyn Heights. (Jen Carlson/Gothamist)
At today's press conference in Brooklyn Bridge Park's gorgeous new Pier 5, Mayor Bloomberg opened up the floor to off-topic questions. Since the Brooklyn Heights locals seemed to outnumber the press at the grand opening of the pier, one of the first came from a local man who seems to do a lot of fist-shaking at the sky.
Seizing the opportunity to pose a direct question to our helicopter-loving mayor, the unidentified resident brought up a perpetually touchy subject among Brooklyn Heights residents: the helicopter noise. Bloomberg acknowledged that tourist helicopters do take off from lower Manhattan and do sometimes fly over, or near, the Brooklyn Heights area—in fact, two flew over while the press conference was going on.
Playing along, Bloomberg asked the man what solution he would propose, to which the helicopter-hater replied: "Why can't you move them somewhere else?" You know, somewhere where he doesn't live. Not skipping a beat, the Mayor asked what neighborhoods they should fly over. "I don't know," the man replied, "New Jersey."
Bloomberg noted that NYC tourists do not want to go to or see New Jersey, and the man consoled himself with some complimentary gourmet Jaques Torres hot chocolate before presumably storming back to his multi-million dollar converted soundproof carriage house.
