City Council Endorses Keeping Helicopters Higher: Will It Help?

Echo Park and Silver Lake residents know well how hovering helicopters can put an end to a good night's sleep.

Just Wednesday, a search for two car thieves near Glendale Boulevard kept residents up til all hours as choppers clattered and police shouted through bullhorns.

Read the full blow-by-blow on Diane Edwardson's Corralitas Red Car Property blog.

Summer, with its open windows, can make things seem even worse.

There's some good news.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council added some oomph to efforts by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Valley Village) that would provide some relief from the sound of buffeting blades.

From the LA Times:

The council voted to endorse a bill by Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), who held a public hearing last week in Sherman Oaks to hear from residents whose neighborhoods are affected by noisy, low-flying helicopters.

If passed, the measure would direct the FAA to establish flight paths for helicopters and set minimum altitudes at which they can operate over certain areas of the county.

Support for the bill was not unanimous. Councilmember Richard Alarcon dissented, according to the times, citing concerns that it would prevent law enforcement officials from effectively doing their jobs.

LAPD Northeast Detective Richard Ortiz did not comment directly about the bill, but said that helicopters played a critical role in crime enforcement.

"I think they are very important, they are the first ones on the scene," he said. "If there's an incident, and we know it's involving a red car, the guys in the helicopters are going to be the first ones to get there and get the location of the red car. That kind of thing leads to arrests on a daily basis."

The bill would also set height restrictions on media choppers, which normally fly higher than the LAPD helicopters.