NEWS For Release Contact: David Vossbrink Office of Mayor Ron Gonzales 11:00 a.m. April 26, 2000 (408) 277-5800 Mayor Gonzales Opposes FAA Proposal to Reroute San Francisco Air Traffic Over San Jose San José, CA -- 4/26/00: A proposal to reroute as many as 200,000 San Francisco-bound airplane approaches a year to fly over San Jose neighborhoods and other South Bay cities is strongly opposed by San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and Silicon Valley communities, he announced today. The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed rerouting 300 to 600 incoming flights a day in an effort to improve on-time performance in poor weather conditions at San Francisco Airport. The plan would shift all San Francisco approaches southward to fly over west, south and east San Jose, and consolidating them over north and central San Jose on their final approach. "We will do everything we can to protect the residents in our neighborhoods from additional air traffic noise that would result from the proposed plan," said Mayor Gonzales. "I have asked the FAA to stop this ill-considered proposal, and we will ask for assistance from our residents and our elected representatives in Washington to join our effort." The FAA proposal would improve on-time performance for San Francisco's arriving flights during weather conditions that occur only about four weeks each year, but it would change the approach pattern for all approaches, all year round, regardless of weather conditions. "We support cooperation for airport planning and operations to improve service that benefits the people, the economy, and the environment of the entire Bay region," said Gonzales. "We cannot support FAA's plan that would damage the daily quality of life for more than a million people in San Jose and Silicon Valley merely to achieve a marginal improvement at San Francisco Airport only some of the time. The FAA did not evaluate its rerouting proposal to determine environmental or noise impacts of hundreds of daily flights over South Bay communities, nor did it analyze its potential effects on air safety issues or the operations of San Jose International Airport. "I am seriously disappointed that the FAA did not consider how its plan would affect San Jose residents, nor was there any consultation with our community as they prepared their proposal," said the mayor. "This proposal would affect neighborhoods throughout San Jose, as well as in our neighboring communities in Santa Clara and Alameda Counties." The FAA will hold a South Bay public hearing on the proposal on 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 2, in the Isaac Newton Senter Boardroom at Santa Clara County Government Center, 70 West Hedding Street, San Jose.