"This should have been addressed long ago," said Frank Galluscio, a Queens community board leader who lives along the path of the pipeline. "If those things blow we'll all be dust."
Security in the area surrounding JFK is "invisible" almost six years after the Sept. 11th attacks, community residents said, despite the fact that pipelines carrying jet fuel run directly beneath homes, schools and day care centers.
The pipelines are flagged above ground by 3-foot orange and white markers and maps of their route are easily accessible online, said Patricia Adams, a local newspaper editor who wrote an expose on the problem five years ago.
Since then, little action has been taken, said Adams.
"I felt under scrutiny for being an alarmist," said Adams. "Hopefully this wakeup call will be sufficient to protect this community."
A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the airport, said several measures have been undertaken, some visible and some not.
"We've invested hundreds of millions of dollars," said Port Authority spokesman Adam Hicks. "Security has always been a priority."
The Port Authority recently unveiled plans to construct a $138 million "virtual fence" around JFK, modeled after security measures in place at Ben Gurion airport is Israel. The fence would utilize sensors, radars, video motion detectors and thermal imaging, Hicks said.
But New York lawmakers said additional federal funds are needed for security measures beyond the virtual fence.
"We want to make sure there's more security, more cameras, more training, and more coordination between the Port Authority and NYPD," Meeks said. "We need to make sure when you're talking about homeland security dollars it's distributed on a risk basis."
Though State Assemb. Audrey Pheffer said the proposed security cameras would be monitored by the Port Authority, a Port Authority spokesman said the agency had not been notified of the plan.
Those who live near the airport have complained that calls to report suspicious activity have not been taken seriously by 311 operators, local leaders said.
"My constituents have complained of calling 311 and saying, 'We reported a car that was idling on a bridge,'" said City Councilman Joseph Addabbo. "The operator said, 'What's the big deal?'"
