PHOTO: How The Forum covered the JFK Airport employee parking problem last month. File Photo
Two are elected officials last week announced that five major passenger and freight airline companies operating at John F. Kennedy International Airport have confirmed on-site parking policies for employees.
Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) and City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) also announced plans to speak to the board of the Kennedy Airport Airlines Management Council to address ongoing parking issues in surrounding communities.
Last month, The Forum reported that the lot of the shuttered Staples store in Howard Beach was being used by a parking organization, and that overflow vehicles were occupying spaces on nearby residential blocks.
Goldfeder and Ulrich sent letter s to the top ten freight and passenger airlines requesting the companies take steps to curb the practice of “rampant” parking on local streets by airport employees.
In joint missives sent to the major airline companies at JFK, Goldfeder and Ulrich called on the carriers to respond to reports of employees parking in Howard Beach, Ozone Park and adjacent neighborhoods to commute to the airport via the nearby AirTrain station. This practice, they said, takes up valuable parking spaces and increases traffic on otherwise quiet community streets.
“Our middle class families work hard and deserve to enjoy the community they invested in, without having to spend their days and nights circling the block looking for parking,” Goldfeder said in August.
In response letters sent last week to Goldfeder and Ulrich, three major airlines at JFK—Cathay Pacific, jetBlue, and Lufthansa—confirmed that they provide parking spaces, transportation reimbursements and shuttle services to employees.
According to Cathay Pacific Senior Vice President Philippe Lacamp, all its employees park onsite or use mass transit, adding there is “no need” for any employees to park in residential areas.
JetBlue President and CEO Robin Hayes wrote the legislators to confirm that the airline provides “paid parking or transit reimbursement” to all its crewmembers. The borough-based airline also offers shuttle service from employee lots to its Terminal 5 hub, as well as from Forest Hills to the terminal and the company’s maintenance hangar, Hayes said.
The airlines’ response comes shortly after Goldfeder and Ulrich met with the Transportation Security Administration to discuss regular reported sightings of TSA officers in uniform engaging in the practice. According to the TSA, the agency has taken steps to prevent the problem, including publishing notices in employee newsletters urging against the practice.
At the meeting, TSA officials also confirmed that the agency is currently negotiating new parking and public transit subsidies for workers. This, the administration indicated, would help alleviate the issue. According to American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing TSA officers, contract negotiations began this summer and are expected to continue into December.
“It is vital that all those employees and travelers at JFK Airport do their part to be good neighbors,” Ulrich said. “I applaud the airlines that pride themselves on being good community partners who have already taken the necessary steps to prevent their employees from parking on residential streets.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
