URGENT ALERT: FILE YOUR COMMENT NOW

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Nov 2, 2009, 2:59:27 AM11/2/09
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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 BoxClick 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

P.O. Box 117 | Marshfield, VT 05658 US

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