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| This is the logo on the side of the trailer spotted South of the airport area |
Some of you might have seen a trailer with the Logo NENA driving around town. More specifically, I've seen it around the area South of Saunders but inside the loop. That's where most of the houses affected by the airport noise are located. As it turns out NENA stands for North East Noise Abatement, a company out of San Antonio.
I get the idea that they have contracted by the city to install noise-reduction insulation in the houses which were bought by the city as a result of the multi-million dollar federal noise abatement program which started a few years ago. If that's the case, I certainly hope that this grant is being administered a lot more carefully than the county's CAA weatherization program. I certainly would like to read more about it. What say you Laredo Morning Times? Are you listening Pro8news? Where's the coverage we can count on?
Interesting. You know, the folks at the Community Development department would be the ones to know. They answer questions over the phone.
ReplyDeleteActually the city does a pretty good job administering grants. In this case the grant is what should be suspect. Paying millions to people in Alexander Estates for noise abatement is absolutley the dumbest expenditure of tax dollars going. They moved into their houses knowing full well they lived near an airport.
ReplyDeleteThe city got another similar grant a few years back and actually bought homes just south of Saunders near the airport. What would be interesting is to know what the city (landlords) are doing with these homes. Again, that was a waste of money at that time also.
I have a close friend who sold his house just south of the airport and moved to Winfield. Their new house is in the noise abatement zone. So, maybe the city can give him a few thousand to insulate his new home.
This is government waste (pork) at it's best.
That's exactly where I saw this trailer Tom Wade: near the airport South of Saunder and yes, I heard that these are houses the city owns and is renting out.
ReplyDeleteIf I get time in the near future, I may request a FOIA report on who got the money and what their houses are valued at by the county. I'll bet there are some $250+ houses getting noise abatement money.
ReplyDeleteThe North runway extension was not complete until 2001-2002 when the large and noisy airplanes began causing a nuisance in North Laredo. Until then, there was very light air traffic over the north side. East Plantation, Winfield and Alexander Estates were already there well before 2001. No one from the city informed anyone buying houses in that area in the 1990's that there would be a runway expansion where large aircraft would be dropping their landing gear on approach to the airport and fly 5 feet over their houses. That was a South Laredo problem at the time. I can understand if you bought a house in those neighborhoods after 2002, you should have known about the air traffic. But it is unfair to blame homeowners on the North Side looking for noise abatement if their houses were there well before the runway extension.
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