Subject: Activists Meet With San Francisco Mayor (Beaver).
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 184541 -0600
From: Roy Beavers
To: guru
--------------------------------------------------
.......From EMF-L.......
Chris and his hearty, gallant 'Robin Hood' band are not afraid of a
fight with "City Hall" ... or ... THE American mayor who "enjoys" the
biggest reputation of all for "NEVER saying NO to a corporate
blandishment." Watch him, Chris!! He is just playing to the cameras
now.........guru......
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: San Francisco Meeting with Mayor
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 15:36:06 -0800
From: Christopher Beaver
Reply-To: idgfilms@earthlink.net
To: roy@emfguru.com
References: <3A5A38DB.7C34CBF3@emfguru.com>
Dear Roy:
Here's a brief press release-type report on the January 5, 2001 San
Francisco Antenna Free Union's meeting with San Francisco Mayor Willie
Brown. We received a front page story in the Sunday San Francisco
Examiner. Its headline read: "Supes Get Cell Tower Complaint." The
article opened, "By deferring a Friday night request for a moratorium on
new cellular phone antennas, Mayor Willie Brown may have given the new
Board of Supervisors their first test in the arena of neighborhood allegiance.
In contrast, our main paper, the San Francisco Chronicle maintained its
near-perfect record of not following this issue. (They did announce that
Berkeley was considering a mortorium; they didn't announce that Berkeley
in fact instituted a forty-five day moratorium.)
A Chronicle reporter named Rachel Gordon began doing research last week.
After an initial call to Libby Kelley, the reporter again contacted
Libby to announce that there would be no story. Libby was told the
editors had decided the Chronicle could not do a story unless there was
something to cover. Libby asked the reporter, "What do you suppose it
would take for there to be something to cover?" Rachel laughed. I
suddenly had an idea for the location of our next demonstration.
Here's the release:
Citizens’ Groups Demand Cellular Antenna Moratorium
Mayor agrees to inventory existing antennas in San Francisco
January 7, 2001:
The San Francisco Neighborhood Alliance for Political Awareness and the
San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union (SNAFU) urged Mayor Willie
Brown to call an immediate moratorium on further cellular antenna
construction in the city of San Francisco.
The citizen-based initiative came as a result of recently released
scientific research documenting the hazards of wireless
telecommunications as well as what Pat Gerber of SNAFU termed a
breakdown in the process of city planning.
In response, Brown directed Planning Department Director Gerald Green to
begin an immediate audit of every radiofrequency and microwave antenna
in San Francisco. The Mayor acknowledged the inventory as an important
first-step toward proper regulation of wireless telecommunications in
the city, but refused to call for a moratorium.
Wade Crowfoot, administrative assistant to Supervisor-elect Aaron
Peskin, announced that Peskin was willing to initiate immediate meetings
with citizens’ groups and industry representatives.
According to SNAFU, neither the City Planning Department nor the public
knows where all antennas have been placed, let alone whether they comply
with current, even if out-dated, radiation standards. SNAFU claimed that
the 200-plus sites that they have located represent only the tip of the
iceberg. Mayor Brown made it clear that any cellular antenna that was
constructed without a permit would be subject to immediate abatement.
In a written statement, Doug Loranger, founder of the San Francisco
Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union (SNAFU) summarized the group’s position
as calling for:
"An immediate moratorium on the placement of microwave antenna
facilities in the City and County of San Francisco until such time as:
(1) a complete inventory of existing antenna facilities in San Francisco
is conducted; (2) an independent scientific determination is made
whether each antenna facility and site is in compliance with existing
Federal Communications Commission radiation emission standards; and (3)
our January 5, 2001 Policy Positions have been fully considered in
public hearings before the appropriate regulatory agencies and adopted
to the fullest appropriate extent."
Garrett Jenkins, who chaired the Neighborhood Alliance for Political
Awareness meeting, summarized the often passionate exchange as,
"productive in light of the fact that industry representatives accepted
SNAFU’s policy statement as a framework to begin constructive dialogue
that would hopefully lead to revised placement guidelines."
Both groups intend to pursue a legislative course of action with the
Board of Supervisors in a series of one-on-one meetings beginning this week.
Contact:
San Francisco Neighborhood Alliance for Political Awareness
Garrett Jenkins, tel: 415-820-7525
Eileen Gold, tel: 415-285-6114
San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union
Doug Loranger, tel: 415-885-1981
Christopher Beaver, tel: 415-824-5822
Roy, we are really in the trenches now with our continuing study of
politics in San Francisco. We hold no illusions about the Mayor's
directive to identify antennas in San Francisco. It is not to be
mistaken for a moratorium. On the other hand...
The following companies are not in compliance with Planning Commission
regulations to identify current and future antenna sites: AT&T, PacBell,
Verizon (GTE), and others unknown to us. The following jurisdictions lie
outside Planning Commission supervision: CalTrans (highways and
freeways), Department of Public Works (streets and utility poles), the
Redevelopment Agency, Port Authority, Presidio Trust, and U.S. Military.
To inventory these antennas including the hundreds if not into the
thousands of microcell antennas will take quite a long time. If we
merely pegged our moratorium to the corporations coming into compliance
with current San Francisco requirements, as weak as they are, we could
sit back and casually watch the proceedings for months to come.
Best to everyone, more news after this next week of meetings,
Christopher Beaver
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com