[1st-mile-nm] Despite protests, council OKs wireless telecommunication measures

[Richard Lowenberg]

Note, I did not attend last night's City Council meeting, but
anticipated the process and outcomes reported below.    I had
and still have deep concerns about the poorly understood economic
and community inclusion aspects of this decision making, rather
than the health effects of wireless radiation.   Behind the scenes
conversations, however, led me to understand that City staff and
consultants are also still considering a number of critical issues.
The five franchises, I'm told, are therefore short term, only
through September.   City Councilors are legally being pressed by
recent State mandates, with which they need to comply (Senate Bill 14,
passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor).   The City
is pursuing preparation of a strategic plan that will more
comprehensively addresses our telecom. near future.  All or some of
the five newly franchised companies may or may not deploy fiber or
wireless infrastructure in the near term.  This matter is ongoing,
and deserves some focused attention, analysis and clear-headedness.

The health effects of various wireless radiating systems is
contentious, with lots of good science being countered with lots of
bad or inadequate science.  It is a long term issue to be better
understood and acted upon, as blinding consumerism drives tech.
adoption.   To the extent possible, we ought to practice the
Precautionary Principle.   Young children and the elderly may be
most susceptible to (non-ionizing) EM radiation.   Might schools
limit wireless networking, in favor of extended fiber nets?
Should the City establish wireless 'quiet zones'?  How will
neighborhoods and the City benefit from our tele-networking
developments, and who benefits; how and when?
Lots of questions remain.

RL

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Despite protests, council OKs wireless telecommunication measures

By Tripp Stelnicki | tstelnicki at sfnewmexican.com  May 9, 2018

The dozens of Santa Fe residents who claim they are endangered by the 
radio frequencies emitted by telecommunication facilities protested five 
proposed telecom franchise agreements at length Wednesday night before 
the City Council.

Amid the interruptions of the frequently disorderly crowd, councilors 
approved the agreements, which are expected to pave the way to enhanced 
wireless and cellular connectivity. The decision places the city in 
accordance with a new state law that will establish access and 
regulation rules for small cellular facilities on public infrastructure.

The five ordinances establish new access rights to public rights of way 
for telephone and internet service providers, whether with cables or 
antennas.

Subsequent network expansions could eventually provide Santa Feans with 
faster speeds, broader coverage and additional retail competition, 
according to city fiscal analyses.

Each of the council votes was 7-2 in favor; councilors Chris Rivera and 
Renee Villarreal were against.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to live like some of these people 
do with the issues they might have,” Rivera said, referring to the 
health concerns expressed by some who came to the meeting. “Thirty years 
from now, we may be looking at this the way we do look at cigarettes.”

The well-attended, two-hour hearing began with fireworks. A leader in 
the local advocacy against electromagnetic radiation, Arthur 
Firstenberg, launched into a lengthy and emotional tirade about what he 
alleged are the mortal risks posed by the telecom facilities — ignoring 
repeated requests to relinquish the podium after his allotted time had 
expired. He alternated between reading his prepared remarks and shouting 
at Mayor Alan Webber as the mayor sought to restore order in the 
boisterous council chamber.

“Don’t tell me to shut up!” Firstenberg yelled.

Webber, showing exasperation but not anger, sternly and repeatedly asked 
— and then instructed — Firstenberg to stop and admonished the crowd for 
their applause when he had finished.

It would not be the last time Webber asked the crowd for quiet.

Nodding toward the long line of residents waiting to speak behind 
Firstenberg, Webber said, “To hold the podium for that amount of time is 
simply disrespectful of everybody else.”

The residents who spoke for roughly an hour afterward echoed 
Firstenberg’s concerns at a lower volume, variously saying they were 
victims of encroaching wireless “toxins” and that the city must protect 
their health.

Many attributed the franchise applications to the telecom industry’s 
coming wave of improved wireless technologies known as 5G.

But a city land-use senior planner, Dan Esquibel, said that no matter 
when that next generation of wireless arrives elsewhere, it was not 
imminent in Santa Fe, which he said does not yet have the necessary 
fiber-optic infrastructure.

“I don’t think we’re going to be seeing 5G for quite some time,” 
Esquibel said.

Assistant City Attorney Marcos Martinez reminded councilors that federal 
law prohibits them from considering “environmental effects” and “health 
effects that may flow from the environmental effects” of radio frequency 
emissions.

Webber said the approvals represented the city taking control of its own 
infrastructural investments. Still, he said, he took the testimony “very 
seriously.”

“I think it’s completely legitimate to be very vigilant and to recognize 
not all technology is progress,” Webber said.


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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
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