Murray Hill residents say Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t follow helicopter curfew rules

Neighbors of a Murray Hill helipad say Mayor Michael Bloomberg is landing his helicopter by their apartment past curfew.

After noticing helicopters landing at the 34th Street helipad past a weekend and weeknight curfew, Ron and Amy Sticco started monitoring, and later filming, the choppers’ arrivals.

And they found a familiar face through the binoculars – the mayor.

Reached at home by phone, Amy Sticco told Metro she has watched Bloomberg land and climb out of his helicopter after hours for months.

The sound, she said, is incredibly loud, and fumes also blow toward their apartment, invading their terrace.

“This is me at my apartment, and this is me opening up my door,” she told Metro over the sound of whipping helicopter blades in the background. “Do you hear the helicopters?”

She continued, “That happens on the weekend when Bloomberg decides to land his helicopter here.”

They have been filming for half a year, she said, during which time they have captured the mayor arriving or taking off 16 times.

“Whenever we were home and whenever we heard something, we’d run out and grab the camera,” she said.

Just this weekend, Bloomberg was in and out of the helipad eight times, Sticco said, at times bringing along his girlfriend Diana Taylor and her two dogs.

ABC has the videos here.

“My understanding is that it’s not closed over the weekend,” Bloomberg told the news station.

But Sticco said she doubted the mayor was unaware of the rules.

“I like the mayor,” she said. “I just think it’s hypocritical when he says one thing and then he does something else. If this was something happening around where he lives, he would put a stop to it.”

The arrivals ruin their weekend time, she said, forcing them from their terrace.

“You can’t sit outside because of the fumes,” she said. “It’s aggravating.”

Sticco said she and her husband are only following the mayor’s example.

“Bloomberg is all about helping the city and making the city more proactive,” she said. “He wants all New Yorkers to speak up if something’s bothering them.”

A spokesman for Bloomberg said late this afternoon he will no longer be using the heliport on weekends.