November 1, 2009
URGENT ALERT – FILE YOUR COMMENT NOW
- Stop the FCC from
gutting the rights of communities and citizens to regulate wireless
infrastructure buildout.
- Tell the FCC that
fiber optic should be the choice for its National Broadband Plan for
Our Future.
- Tell the FCC not
to allow Broadband Over Powerlines (BPL).
- Tell your US
Senators and Congressman that the FCC vote on Nov. 18th is
yet another federal action
that will hurt you as an individual citizen by lowering your property
values.
- File your Ex Parte FCC
Comment by Nov. 9, 2009 to ensure that all FCC Commissioners will have
time to consider your Comment.
- E-mail your FCC Comment to
your US Senators and Congressman.
Send this message out as
widely as possible. If you live outside the US, send it to all you
know who live
in the US.
Failure of federal regulatory
oversight of the mortgage industry has played a major role in
plummeting home
values nationwide. FCC action that removes still more local authority
over antenna siting will undercut home
values in communities even more. Inappropriate antenna sites devalue
adjacent homes. It is the role of
local government to determine where the appropriate sites are for
wireless infrastructure buildout. Local
land use decisions should not be undercut again by federal agency
regulations.
The FCC will act on November 18, 2009
on the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA – the
wireless lobbying organization) Petition (FCC Docket 08-165)
requesting the FCC to adopt new policies that
would place onerous restrictions on local zoning authority as it
affects wireless communications antenna siting.
The FCC’s new policies if adopted will essentially gut local
governmental zoning processes and stifle citizen
input. Granting the CTIA Petition will increase the preemption of
local zoning authority for antenna sites. Congress
refused to grant this further preemption under the Telecommunications
Act of 1996 (TCA). The CTIA wants the
green light to circumvent local zoning.
Specifically, CTIA has
requested the FCC to:
a) Create a “Shot
Clock” with a 45 or 75-day deadline for approval of wireless antenna
and tower zoning
applications;
b) Rule that
applications are automatically deemed granted if a local government
misses the Shot-Clock
deadline. (These proposed rules would curtail any meaningful local
governmental review.);
c) Prevent localities
from considering the presence of service by other carriers in
evaluating an additional
carrier’s application for an antenna site; (The CTIA is attempting to
close a loophole in Section 704 of the
TCA which currently allows for consideration of wireless coverage by
other carriers in determining if a
“significant gap” in coverage exists.); and
d) Preempt any local
ordinance that would effectively require a variance for every tower
application.
(Gutting the variance procedure strikes at the heart of local
government control and kills it by removing
the zoning mechanism for wireless projects that do not comply, as is
typical, with local regulations.)
FCC Chairman Julius
Genachowski announced on October 7, 2009 at a CTIA conference that he
supports a streamlined antenna siting process to
remove obstacles that delay “robust and ubiquitous
wireless deployment.” Despite the FCC’s purported claim that
its new policy will preserve local zoning
authority, adoption of any of the CTIA’s requested new restrictions
will chill the local zoning process on
wireless siting and render it toothless.
Stop the FCC from granting the
outrageous CTIA Petition when it issues its Order on November 18th.
Act now:
- Tell your two US Senators
and your Congressman to write to the FCC Chairman and Commissioners
to oppose CTIA’s Petition for Declaratory Ruling that is now on the FCC
agenda for approval on
November 18, 2009. Ask them to demand that the FCC does not
grant the CTIA Petition.
To find their E-mail addresses go
to
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt?action=myreps_form.
Type your
ZIP Code in the box and
click on GO.
Then
click on the picture of each of your Senators
and your Congressman. On each of those pages
click on the
Contact Tab above the Member’s
picture to find their E-mail address.
In the Cover Sheet form
type the following:
Box 1 – 08-165
Line 2 – Click - Name
Box 3 – Type your
name.
Box 4 - not required
Box 5 - not required
Box 6 – Giving your
E-mail is optional.
Boxes 7 thru 10 –
Your physical mailing address is required.
Line 11 – Check – Ex
Parte
Line 12 – Leave it as
COMMENT.
Line 13 – not
required.
Then -
You have the choice of:
Attaching your prepared document
file. This choice lets you type up your own document and edit it the
most
easily in your own word processing program. It does not have to be a
long document.
For this choice:
In the File Description Box
- Type – Ex Parte Comment.
In the File Box – Click
on Browse and find your file from your own documents and click
on the name of the file
you want to attach.
In Choose File Type
– Choose the type of file you are attaching. PDF is the most secure
choice if your computer
is capable of making PDF files.
When finished click on – Send
Attached File.
If you prefer, you
can choose to type your Brief Comment directly in the box at
the bottom of the Cover Sheet
web page. When you are satisfied with what you have typed click on Send
Brief Comment. If you need to edit
or want to start over, click on Clear Brief Comment and retype.
Suggestions for points to
include in your FCC Ex Parte Comment -
- Tell the FCC to
deny CTIA’s Petition for Declaratory Ruling and stop catering
to the cell phone and
wireless industries at the expense of the individual taxpayers and
local municipalities who have
already been severely restricted in their rights for local planning and
safety.
- Tell the FCC you oppose the
CTIA Petition that asks the FCC to approve further limitations on local
governments in the siting of new antenna sites.
- Tell the FCC that you
oppose another instance where the actions of a minimally
regulated industry will
be allowed to lower your property values without your input as a local
and federal voter and taxpayer.
- Tell the FCC that cable and
wired alternatives are safer than wireless for the National
Broadband
Plan for Our Future. Fiber optic is the “green” infrastructure for
high-speed broadband access. It is the
superior infrastructure for speed, security, bandwidth, and lower
energy consumption. Fiber optic for
internet requires minimal power for the data to travel in the fiber
optic cable while antennas pump out
signal 24/7 whether the signal is being used or not. Fiber optic is
the best internet solution for economic
development – with the added benefit of contributing no further
radiofrequency radiation to our living
environment. Make the needed investment now to assure the US has the
best economic future.
- Tell the FCC to keep
wireless off our electrical grid (from Broadband over Powerlines –
BPL).
- Tell the FCC to implement
wired solutions for SmartGrid and Smart Meter applications.
To read
the Comments filed in the proceeding, go to: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/comment_search/execute?proceeding=08-165&applicant=&lawfirm=&author=&disseminated.minDate=&disseminated.maxDate=&recieved.minDate=11%2F1%2F08&recieved.maxDate=&address.city=&address.state.stateCd=&address.zip=&daNumber=&fileNumber=&submissionTypeId=&__checkbox_exParte=true
