Modiin Municipality’s request for court order to cease the night flights was rejected again by Bagatz

Modiin-Watch unveiled this week that the Modiin Municipality submitted on December 8th an additional request to Bagatz to issue a court order to cease the night flights, and that Bagatz once again rejected this request over a week ago, just like it rejected last August the Modiin Municipality’s first request for a court order.

From the wording of the Bagatz decision it seems as if the Modiin Municipality attempted to use the strike of the State’s attorneys to its advantage.

The end of December will mark six months to the flights over Modiin, and our impression is that Bagatz is not persuaded by the arguments presented by the Modiin Municipality and that Bagatz does not intend to issue a court order to forbid the flights.

The repeated refusal of Bagatz to take any practical steps to stop the night flights is in sharp contrast to the Modiin Municipality’s claims that Bagatz supposedly accepted all its claims.

On a more positive note, it appears that the work on the runways is proceeding faster than planned, and the next phase of the work which will involve closing down runway 30 used for the flights over Modiin may take place as early as July 2011, instead of the end of 2011 as originally projected.

The Modiin Municipality hid from the public the fact that it issued an additional request for a court order and that this request was rejected, and it issued a press release only after this fact was unveiled by Modiin-Watch. The Modiin Municipality also unabashedly claimed that the progress on the runway works is thanks to its legal efforts with  Bagatz, while the truth of the matter is that this progress is due to the large financial bonuses for early completion that the Airport Authority placed as part of its contracts with its contractors – contracts that were negotiated and signed long before the planes started flying over Modiin.

For more information please see the post on our Hebrew Website.

Latest Developments regarding Minister Gilad Erdan’s involvement regardin the Flights

In light of recent developments described in detail in the post on our Hebrew website, the demonstration which we planned to pressure minister Erdan this Friday is cancelled.

We will update this post by tomorrow to provide a summary in English of these latest developments, so please check back again.

Call for Action: Enroll in the Rally we are holding next Friday, November 26th

As you recall, On November 2nd The Supreme court instructed Minister Gilad Erdan, who is in charge of Defense of the Environment, to respond by the end of November and to provide reasoning why he does not exercise his authority and issue a warrant forbidding the night flights over Modiin.

Two weeks ago we wrote Minister Gilad Erdan, and we asked him to wield his authority and issue such a warrant. We also invited Minister Erdan to make a brief visit to Modiin at night and experience the noise levels that the residents of Modiin are experiencing every night.

We’ve been also in contact with Yossi Hazai, advisor to Gilad Erdan, who stated that the minister is planning to visit Modiin at night to gain personal insight to the noise levels that the flights are generating. Hazai also stated that per recent noise level measurements, some 25-30% of the flights over Modiin exceed the 75 Decibel threshold, yet the head of the Noise and Radiation Branch at the ministry of the Defense of the Environment does not deem this to be unacceptable noise levels.

Given that Minister Erdan has not yet  taken the action we are striving for, and given that our window of opportunity to exert public pressure on Minister Erdan will close at the end of the month, we are organizing public pressure on Minister Erdan next week that will peek with a mass protest on Friday, November 26th.

Like in the successful protest of July 2009, we plan to convene starting at 8:00AM the parking lot in front of the Modiin Municipality and head out by 8:30AM to a destination that will be decided during the next few days. We are planning the rally so as to enable the participants to get to the children schools and pick them up by 11:45AM.

We are requesting that you confirm your plan to participate in this rally via email to planes@modiin.us, so that we can monitor the number of people who plan to participate. Please state your mobile phone and the number of participants who will attend.

The rally will be held only if we reach significant participation numbers – so please confirm your participation today!

We also seek volunteers who can help with hanging flyers in entrances to homes, putting up posters,  making phone calls (in Hebrew), assist in directing people during the day of the rally, contribute financially, etc. If you are willing to assist, please email us at planes@modiin.us.

We will also hold a campaign early next week to flood the office of Gilad Erdan with your phone calls, emails and faxes. We will address this in detail in a separate email in the beginning of next week.

Please pass on this message on to your neighbors in Modiin and share the link to our Website post on your Facebook profile.

For more details please see the post on our Hebrew Website.

If you opt to stay at home during the rally – please don’t complain later about the noisy night flights!

The Supreme Court Decision re Petition on Flights over Modiin

Bagatz published on Tuesday its decision on the Modiin Municipality petition against the flights over the city, which was discussed in the Supreme Court on Monday. Bagatz did not accept the Municipality request to issue an injunction to halt the flights over the city at night.

Bagatz addressed four clause (clauses #5-8) of the Municipality 165 clause petition, directing the state to provide answers within 30 days to the Municipality’s questions in these four clauses. Three clauses address the long term use of the landing path over Modiin beyond the period of the Ben Gurion Runway works (the major use of the landing path over Modiin is due until the end of 2011).

One clause (clause #8) is  directed at Gilad Erdan, the minister in charge of Defense of the Environment. Within this clause Minister Erdan is asked to explain why he does not use his power to issue a warrant forbidding flights over Modiin at night.

It should be noted that the State’s response to the petition included a letter from the Ministry of Defense of the Environment, referring to the noise measured during the night flights over Modiin in July, and stating that this noise is not unreasonable noise. Thus, the minister of Defense of Environment is likely to stick to this position.

However we now have a window of opportunity that is four weeks long to apply public pressure on the Minister of Environment Gilad Erdan to change the position of its ministry and to issue a warrant forbidding flights over Modiin at night.

Clear Skies has already sent a letter last week to Gilad Erdan, urging him to heed the calls of Modiin residents and to issue a warrant forbidding flights over Modiin at night. We enclosed letters we received from residents detailing the adverse effects the night flights have on their ability to sleep, including their children. We asked to schedule an urgent meeting with the Minister and invited him for a brief nightly visit to Modiin to experience for himself the noise levels involved.

We will also ask the media to help by putting Minister Gilad Erdan on the Spotlight. If we do not receive the desired answer from the Minister we will call on you, Modiin-Maccabim-Reut residents, to take an active part in an email/phone/fax campaign targeting Minister Erdan, and if that will not do the trick we will organize a rally.

We feel compelled to protest once again the deception of the Modiin Municipality’s publications, who stated after the court published its decision that “The Supreme Court has accepted all of the Municipality’s claims”. If that were the case, the flights would have of course ceased. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

For more details on the Supreme Court decision and its consequences please see the post on our Hebrew website.

Decision on Petition to be published by end of the day Tuesday

The hearing on the Modiin Municipality petition re the flights over the city was held yesterday, Monday November 1st, in the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Presiding judges were Edmond Levy, Yoram Danzinger & Miriam Naor.

The main advocate for Modiin Municipality was Adv. Neri Yarkoni who specializes in aviation law. Adv. Yarkoni was assisted by Adv. Eyal Mamo. The Modiin Municipality legal team included also the Municipality legal advisor Adv. Dana Chefetz Tuchler and Adv. Einav Livne of the legal bureau.

Also present in the hearing were Mayor Haim Bibas, his two deputies Hanan Bernstein and Moish Levy and the general manager of the municipality, Yoram Carmon. Council member Alex Weinreb also attended the hearing, as well as ~15 Modiin residents.

The advocate for the State was Adv. Shosh Shmueli. Also present in the hearing were senior officials from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The hearing lasted about 50 minutes and at the end of the hearing the judges did not render a decision. Instead they announced that their decision will be published on the Supreme Court Website by the end of the next day, Tuesday November 2nd. An update on the decision will be posted on the Clear Skies Website.

For a detailed description of the court proceedings and their analysis please see the post on our Hebrew Website.

Supreme Court Hearing on the Petition re the Flights is today at 11:30AM

We would like to remind you that the hearing in the Supreme Court on the Modiin Municipality petition regarding the flights over our city is taking place today, Monday November 1st at 11:30AM at hall D. Click here for the Supreme Court location and driving instructions in Google Maps.

If you are working in Jerusalem you can simply take an early lunch break and come to attend the hearing. If you are in Modiin why not hop over? It’s only a half an hour drive. The more residents that are present in the hearing the more likely the judges are going to get the message that this the flights constitute a significant detriment to Modiin residents.

On Friday last week (October 29th) between 2:20-5:00AM an especially large number of flights disturbed the sleep of many Modiin residents. One resident documented the precise hour and minute that the flights flew by and counted no less than 23 flights. Here is the schedule she documented:

02:20

02:25

02:27

02:38

02:42

02:49

02:52

02:55

03:00

03:03

03:10

03:20

03:25

03:28

03:30

03:35

03:40

03:43

04:00

04:06

04:13

04:33

05:00

See you in the Supreme Court hearing!

The Bagatz hearing has been postponed to November 1st

We’d like to notify you that the hearing in the Supreme Court of the Modiin Municipality petition against the flights which was scheduled for tomorrow October 11th has been postponed to Monday November 1st, 11:30AM. The hearing will be held in the hall D of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.

Clear Skies recommends to Modiin-Maccabim-Reut residents who can attend this hearing to do so. If the Supreme Court Judges see a large crowd of residents they may deduce that the flights severly impact our quality of life. If only a small number of residents are present this may send the opposite message.

We invite residents who plan on attending the hearing to email us at planes@modiin.us and to let us know if you can offer a ride to fellow residents. If you would like to attend the hearing and you need a ride, please also email us and we will try to match you up.

In your email please state the following:

• What hour you plan on leaving Modiin in the morning
• Return destination after the court hearing
• Number of available seats
• Name, email address and mobile phone number

You are welcome to read in Modiin-Watch the letter sent by Giora Rom, head of the CAA, in response to Mayor Bibas strong letter to him (Rom’s letter was not published by the municipality despite Rom expressing interest in its publication to the public).

For more details please see the post on our Hebrew website.