As Glendale finalizes its draft wireless ordinance…
“…although the FCC has stated that there are no health concerns at the emission levels allowed, certain precautions would still be advised,” – from the Glassell Park Improvement Association “Position on Telecommunication Towers” written awhile ago but revisited last night at a community meeting. Cell tower siting will be on Glassell Park Neighborhood Council board agenda for discussion next week.
Culver City residents published this notice of a January 19 city council meeting to organize protest against a proposed cell tower near homes and a school:
“Health risks associated with these sites are frightening. Unfortunately the Federal government in the Telecommunications act of 1996 eliminated the ability of local governments to restrict the placement of these types of antennas on the basis of health concerns.
Federal law does not allow the city to restrict placement of these transmitters to protect our health. However, the city government does care about the community, and we are certainly not restricted in expressing any of our concerns. We can do so on January 19 2010, at City Hall, 7PM.
San Francisco is considering a new ordinance that would assert municipalities’ rights to control wireless facility installations in the public right-of-way, using the 2009 Palos Verdes Estates Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision as its justification. The city is also revising its wireless guidelines to establish a tiered system (similar to the draft wireless ordinance now being reviewed in Glendale) and to reclassify all residential zones as non-preferred for wireless installations.
Portland, Oregon‘s Respect PDX, opposing installation of a Clearwire cell tower, was featured for an hour yesterday on a talk radio show. An audio file of the interview with two Portland residents is here and worth listening to: it reinforces the commonality of residents’ concerns, highlights citizens’ justifiable anger at having no recourse as a potential health risk is forced upon them, and shows the uses to which telecom companies are putting public right-of-way laws in their expansion plans.
Thanks for spreading the word about RespectPDX. For more about cell towers in Portland you can go to:
http://mtna-landuse.blogspot.com
This is a blog by the chair of the land use committee of MtTabor Neighborhood Association in Portland.
We have the same issues in Canada regarding the lack of control the civic level has on placement of these towers. We are launching http://www.celltower.ca to help our fight to a national level. Visit http://www.currietower.com to see our local fight.