Subject: Gary Brown, Sutro Tower, Editorial Thoughts (fwd)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 042329 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
--------------------------------------------------
......In the message immediately preceding this, I remarked about the
level of understanding "down under." Here is another good example of a
high level of understanding..... It rambles a bit. (As I'm sure Chris
will admit. That is the way he wrote it -- "rambling thoughts.") But
there is much here -- about the "politics" and procedures which have
now been elaborately constructed around "special interests" to protect
them from public scrutiny ... and (actually!) democratic control....
i.e., **I am saying that situations like this actually DEFY our so-called
"democratic way" in order to protect the few (extremely small minority)
who benefit.....**
I considered doing a little bit of editing here -- mainly to shorten
the piece and perhaps give it more focus -- but in the end I decided
against it...... Sometimes even "rambling" can have structure and
focus....
Cheerio..... Thanks Chris.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at:
EMF-L archives can be found at:
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 01:00:34 -0700
From: Christopher Beaver
To: "Roy L. Beavers"
Subject: Gary Brown, Sutro Tower, Editorial Thoughts
Dear Roy:
This is fairly long, Roy. My apologies. I've been stewing in my own
frustration at what I seem to be capable of doing about the wireless
issue and writing things down alleviates some of the darkness.
Herewith a collection of thoughts, as the Walrus said, speaking of many
things, including the latest news from San Francisco about Sutro Tower.
1. Appreciation for Gary Brown and his meetings with Apple.
2. News about the follow-up to the Sutro Tower hearing I reported previously.
3. Thoughts on environmentalism versus, if versus is the right word, EMF
and EMR activists.
Number One: Gary Brown
I was knocked out that Gary Brown had not one but two meetings with
Apple, and that somehow in his finesse, he found a way for them to
consider the information he brought them. That's taking some mighty
impressive action.
As an additional thought for Gary and the group, have you sent the
information you've gathered to Steve Wozniak via his web-page and
e-mail? Or is this something I should volunteer to take on? Wozniak
appears to be devoting much of his time to computer instruction in the
classroom and hasn't seemed to be quite as in thrall to the wonderful
world of technology as his successors at Apple.
Number Two: Sutro Tower
A second hearing was held on Tuesday, August 17, before a subcommittee
of the Board of Supervisors.
The hearing began with Deborah Stein, attorney for Sutro Tower, Inc.
reaching behind her front row seat to pat the knee of Frank Chiu, head
of building and permits for the City and County of San Francisco. It
ended with Mr. Chiu slumped in his seat, at one point having covered his
face with his hands, and Ms. Stein huddled with her cronies in the front row.
During the course of the hearing, Mr. Chiu disclosed that there are 179
antennas at the Sutro Tower site that have been constructed without
permits, construction that has taken place on a regular basis since the
original site permit was granted in 1966
People who read my last item on Sutro Tower may recall that the Planning
Department and Sutro Tower Inc. admitted in that there were 120 or 119
or 129 antennas constructed without permits on Sutro Tower plus two
unpermitted underground diesel fuel tansk.
On the basis of these and other misleading statements made earlier by
the Sutro Tower attorneys, Christine Linenbach, the attorney for the
neighborhood group that has been fighting antenna construction, accused
the Sutro Tower representatives of committing what would have amounted
to perjury if the statements had been made under oath.
I wish I were a reporter. But I'm not. (Maybe that's to the good since
not too many reporters have thus far seen fit to attend either hearing.)
In any case, rather than attempt
a full narative story, I'll simply quote a few snippets of dialogue from
the hearing according to my notes.
Supervisor Leland Yee to Mr. Chiu: How did this situation of the
unlicensed antennas come about?
Mr. Chiu: I can't tell you.
Yee: Do you have know the total number of structures on the site?
Mr. Chiu: I don't have the figures.
Supervisor Alicia Becerril: Is there any truth to the assertion that
permits are not required?
Mr. Chium: I've always maintained that permits are necessary.
Toward the end of the hearing—
Robert McCarthy: I resent the implication that Sutro Tower, Incorporated
is a scofflaw, we have received permits for everything except the fuel
tanks and the antennas. ...
Concluding statements from the Supervisors—
Supervisor Yee: Sutro Tower, Incorporated has retained two attorneys who
have served you well, unfortunately to the detriment of the neighbors
around Sutro Tower...To the Building Department, I am extremely
disappointed. You are supposed to be the servants of the people but you
appear to be the servants of Sutro Tower....It's a sad day for me to say
I'm a representative for the people and yet the city departments
involved seem to be in the service of the corporations. I can't look the
neighbors in the eye and say, we will protect you...ultimately it is the
people we represent and no one else.
Supervisor Sue Bierman: I think we're being awfully polite about all
those antennas that went up without permits....Nobody knows for sure
what radiation has been affecting the neighbors and their children...You
can't imagine the fear I have from one window that looks out on that
tower. After all these years, I don't think the tower owners or their
representatives have done anything to dispell that fear, because it's
deliberate [their actions in constructing antennas without permits].
More hearings are to follow with much of the struggle taking place
beyond the eye of the public, and almost certainly without news reports
from the newspaper, television and radio station owners of Sutro Tower.
In one such incident, according to Christine Linenbach, in the hallway
after the hearing I've described, Bob McCarthy, one of the Sutro Tower
attorneys, grabbed Ms. Linenbach's mother, Doris Linenbach, by the arm
and threatened her daughter's career. Mr. McCarthy was quoted as saying,
"you have not yet begun to feel my wrath." Doris Linenbach was one of
the earliest people in San Francisco to sound the call about the threat
from Sutro Tower.
These same neighbors found out this past week that they are facing the
construction of cellular phone antennas in the steeple of Saint
Anthony's Church in their neighborhood. The first public meeting on
these antennas was held earlier this evening, Tuesday the 24th. I was
not able to attend due to a freelance video job I'd taken earlier. But
there now seems to be a pattern of pushing these antenna proposals in
August when many people are on vacation.
I can't help but wonder, however despite my absence from the meeting,
what's going on with these Christian churches. Of course, it's no more
than cynics outside the church, like myself, have come to expect. But
what is literally going on with their thinking? Don't they read their
own literature?
They seem so self-satisfied to accept money from the phone companies,
believing it literally, in their own words, to be an answer to their
prayers. I myself can't help but recall the Biblical story of Satan's
temptations to Jesus in the desert. Satan promised to deliver the entire
world to Jesus if Jesus would only bow down and worship him. And where
are these antennas to be placed in exchange for money? In the steeple of
the church... beneath which parishioneers will bow to pray. It may not
be in the Bible, but I was raised to beware "easy" money. Or was I
taught never to accept candy from strangers?
Number Three: My editorial comment on "environmentalists"
Finally, as a commentary, and to join the dialogue concerning
"environmentalists" and EMF or EMR activists, I would like to toss in my
own two bits worth.
I think I've learned a great deal during the Sutro Tower hearings in San
Francisco. I
knew privately that the neighbors felt they could not oppose the
antennas on the basis of radiation hazard because due to the federal
pre-emption. Before the hearings, I didn't truly grasp the seismic
hazard they face. Before the hearings, I'd thought that only the
radiation hazard was of importance. During the hearings, I've had time
to re-consider my own thinking.
Of course, Roy, you and the others are correct in their hunger for a
challenge to the FCC. We all want that. I would like to see something
like the Karen Silkwood trial with Gerry Spence defeating Kerr-McGee.
And it's beginning to happen in many different arenas. The case I'm
closest to, the one started by David Fichtenberg and Libby Kelley and
the other complainants, including yours truly as a signatory, is almost
certainly headed in that direction. The appeals court verdict is
expected within the next few weeks. The only decision to be made then
will be who will provide money for the appeal to the next level.
But at the same time, I don't see any contradiction among any of the
approaches that calls for increased regulation of power lines and
antennas on any basis:
I accept that power line radiation and microwave antenna radiation harm
human beings. After months of studying the correspondence in your forum
and by pursuing my own research, this is no longer a question for me. We
are always free to discuss the causes or the amount of harm, some
studies may even deny that any hazard exists, but for me, the basic
issue has been settled. I would concur with any proposal, guideline,
standard, or law that lowers human exposures in any respect...and concur
with any standard that lowers them further.
Next, I accept that the antennas may kill as many as four million birds
a year simply as a physical hazard, as hard objects placed in their
flight paths. That guy whose note showed up by accident in this forum
said that it wasn't the antennas fault that songbirds are disappearing
in North America, habitat destruction is the cause. If antenna
construction is not habitat destruction I don't know what is. Some,
many, or all of the deaths may be caused by radiation injury in
comparison to the physical structures. The fact is, one way or another,
the antennas kill a great many birds.
I've also learned through the neighbors of Sutro Tower that Sutro Tower
is a very real seismic hazard to their neighborhood, as other antennas
may be elsewere. Without their investigation, I would not have known
about the 179 unpermitted antennas on that tower, some of them weighing
500 pounds or more. I have to laugh ruefully at my prior belief that at
least I had far less to fear than the folks near Lookout Mountain. It
turns out we're in the same boat even including the same engineering
firm, Hammet and Edison.
And finally, through Roy Beavers' insistence on naming political names
and political parties, I have finally gotten it through my head that
virtually every elected official at the federal level has given their
consent to the diminution of our Constitutional rights. Who among them
didn't lobby or vote for the Telecommunications Act or provide a
succession of proposals to evade environmental, human health, and
liability considerations in the siting of antennas.
So given the totality of all of this...
Would antennas and powerlines be A-OK if microwave radiation were
harmless to human beings or power lines only caused childhood leukemia,
or maybe only a few rare cases or just made people irritable?
Would the antennas be okay if they only killed birds?
Would it be okay if Sutro Tower were only a seismic hazard to the
surrounding neighbors?
Would the antennas be okay if they only represented an attack on our
constitutional rights?
We all have our angles on what gripes us the most. I even think it's
okay if antennas and power lines come under attack just because people
think they're ugly. They're not wrong; to me, each antenna is a visual
signature of Big Brother's triumph.
George Washington commented that what held his army together was not
patriotism in some abstact or noble sense; it was each soldier's
perception of self-interest and self-worth. Gary Brown found a way to
sit down with Apple because he felt threatened or felt the need to
protect those less capable of protecting themselves. Christine
Linenbach, two months after passing the bar, stood up to Bob McCarthy, a
lobbyist who has had his way in San Francisco for two decades, because
Sutro Tower might fall down on her home.
The real watchword to keep in mind may be what Bob Marley and the
Wailers once said, and I think this is the perfect challenge for myself
considering your motto to light one candle rather than curse the
darkness: "now you've seen the light, stand up for your rights."
The simple fact is that none of us as individuals nor any of our groups
alone can compete against the entire telecommunications and electrical
industries. The game is rigged and the hour is growing very late. The
simple fact is, we have no choice, we need each other. Maybe that's one
of the lessons provided by the onslaught we face.
Very best always,
Christopher Beaver
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com