Subject: (Hackett) The truth about the tower sale. (fwd)
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 092150 -0600 (CST)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------
........It used to be called "the shell game" in Washington.....
When responsibility is not clearly assigned (in the law or regulations)
then NOBODY can be held responsible......
The bureaucracies just LOVE that system..... (The FCC!!!!)
Once again.... Everybody has a place at the table -- except us, the
people.... George has described it (the "system") fully below.....
One thought, George, you have a couple Republican senators there in Maine
who attempted to prove their "moderate" credentials by voting against the
Clinton impeachment.... Enlist their support for your cause..... If they
won't help you -- VOTE EM OUT!!!! They're hypocrites.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org................
...It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness...
.................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS...............
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 09:28:39 EST
From: PDepippo@aol.com
To: rbeavers@llion.org, Bdumpe@worldbank.org
Subject: The truth about the tower sale.
Date: 3/17/99 7:55:13 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: cof@ime.net (George Hackett)
To Whom It May Concern;
There has been numerous articles and news reports surrounding the wireless
companies sale of tower assets. Although they claim this to be purely a
business move, nothing could be further from the truth.
Here in South Portland, Maine, a local developer, Quirino Lucarelli, and
Sprint PCS teamed up to locate a tower right smack dab in the middle of a
residential neighborhood. This 160' tower will literally have hundreds of
homes within 1500', and some will have this metal monstrosity right in
their back yard.
The Town Council attempted on three occasions to enact a six month
moratorium as recommended by the FCC to study tower siting. Lucarelli
had enough friends on the Council to block all three attempts, which
enabled him to get his application on file.
Local code enforcement officials deemed the tower to be a public utility
facility, and sent the application off to the Planning Board for site
plan review. Although the Planning Board denied the application,
Lucarelli filed a suit in Superior Court.
A Superior Court judge sided with Lucarelli, and ordered the town to accept
the site plan. Residents raised over ten thousand dollars to take the
appeal of the Superior Court decision on to the Maine Law Court (Supreme
Court). There it was thrown out on a technicality.
A process that began on August 22, 1996, came to fruition on December 8,
1998 when the Planning Board under a Superior Court order reluctantly
accepted the Lucarelli site plan.
On February 4, 1999 Lucarelli was awarded a building permit. A decision
which is under an Administrative Appeal since Sprint PCS is not a "public
utility" and therefore could not have satisfied the requirements for a
building permit for a public utility facility. The appeal will be heard
on March 24, 1999.
Even with the site plan approval, Lucarelli could never have built this
tower without a signed lease from a wireless company. Sprint PCS wasted
no time signing the long term lease within three weeks of site plan
approval.
We wrote letters to Sprint PCS, Andrew Sukawaty CEO, 4900 Main Street,
Kansas City, MO 64112. We ask them not to sign onto a tower that was in
violation of our current zoning ordinance, and to work with the town and
the residents in find an appropriate location.
Sukawaty simply dropped our repeated requests onto the desk of Dawn Smith
of Executive Services. It was Smith that enlightened us to the real
truth of the tower sale.
Smith claims that since Sprint PCS does not own the Lucarelli tower, and
since as she claims that Sprint PCS was invited on the tower, then there
is nothing Sprint PCS can do to stop the construction. This despite the
fact that without a signed lease from a wireless carrier Lucarelli could
never have built the tower. Smith told us to direct any further
complaints to Lucarelli.
So this will become the standard line in the wireless industry regarding
tower location. They will claim that since they do not own the tower,
they have no control over the location. They will claim to have been
invited onto the tower, and once again claim no control.
These companies are selling off their towers as a means of hiding from
the truth.
We are dealing with an industry that Washington gave carte blanch to run
rampant over people from one end of the country to the other. They could
careless about you or me, or our neighborhoods.
Sincerely,
George G. Hacke
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html