TRY TO GET TO THE MEETING TONIGHT (September 26) OR FRIDAY, (September
29) IF YOU CAN.
IT'S IMPORTANT
-----------
From: dkennedy@cais.net (Deborah Kennedy)
One new piece of information:
The tower is being constructed by American Tower Corporation, which
is based
in Boston. DC is part of its Northeast Region, which is headed by
Steven Moskowitz
Vice President, Northeast Region
321 Columbus Avenue
5th Floor
Boston, MA 02116
617/585-7600
617/585-7676 fax
Since I can't attend either of the community meetings this week, I thought
I'd make some phone calls.
First, I called the Office of Planning and Andy Altman wasn't available.
I
spoke instead with Jennifer Steingasser, Development Review Specialist,
(direct line 442-7604). Jennifer explained that her office is working
to
determine how the permit for construction of the tower was issued in
the
first place.
Re future construction, the Planning folks intend to tighten regs on
showing
cause, so that builders would have to go through more hoops to prove
that
their tower/building needed to exceed the congressionally-imposed 130-foot
height limit. They are also working to tighten the setback requirements.
Re this tower, the Planning Office can't really do anything. Jennifer
referred me to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Jennifer is keeping a list of people who call to oppose construction
of the
tower.
Second, I called the BZA (727-6311) and spoke with Ms. Booth. She told
me
that the ANC 3E application to stop the construction (application
#16649)
was filed on Sept. 18 and that the BZA would hold a public hearing.
However,
that will not be scheduled until late December or early January. I
asked if
there was any way to expedite the hearing, and she said that the ANC
could
request faster action, but she couldn't say for sure what effect that
would
have.
(I fear that it will be much more difficult to get rid of this tower
if it
actually gets all the way built -- which it will be by December).
Third, I called the ANC 3E office (244-0800). Here all I could do was
leave
a message asking the commissioners to contact me if I could help them
in any
way with this effort.
Fourth, I emailed the mayor's office at www.washingtondc.gov/mayor/talk.htm
I asked the mayor to (a) stop construction on the tower NOW, and (b)
urge
the BZA to act within 30 days on the ANC 3E application.
Finally, I called Kathy Patterson's office (724-8062). Kathy was at
a
hearing, but her aware and helpful staff is keeping track of calls
on this
subject. Their advice is to do exactly what I did: call/email the mayor.
The
mayor can make something happen right away. Council can't.
-------------
From: CooperJM@aol.com
The correct address for the Mayor is:
mayor-eom@dcgov.org
or-
mayor@dcgov.org
If you have already emailed a letter to the previously published address,
AWilliams4@dcgov.org, and it bounced back, you are not alone!
Please re-send
it to one of the above addresses. If it did not bounce back--
and strangely,
you are not alone, either!-- please re-send your letter anyway.
Better more
than less!
I'm so sorry for the confusion. Whether the address has been changed
or
what? we don't know. Thanks for your understanding, and for your
efforts.
Hope to see you at one of the meetings this week. Jo.
-------------
From: kenanddavida@starpower.net (Kenneth Giles)
I just sent two e-mails to the mayor's office re stopping construction
of the
Tenleytown broadcast tower -- one to each address you e-mailed to us
(the
second one I used directly from the DCgov home page). NEITHER
ONE went
through!
-------------
>From ptannenwald@ictpc.com (Peter Tannenwald)
The radio tower being built at 41st and Chesapeake
Sts. N.W. is a serious
problem. The eyesore and height issues can't be ignored.
This tower will
have strobe lights that will go far beyond the existing towers in disturbing
the neighborhood -- we will all have lights blinking in our windows.
All we
have now are dull red blinking lights. There is a big difference.
But it goes beyond that. The tower is immediately
adjacent to the street.
Ice forms on antennas. Ice drops from antennas. This ice
will hit the
street and crush cars -- unless every antenna on the tower is heated
with
de-icers. Has anyone looked to see if de-icers will be installed?
They
cost money, so there is an incentive to avoid them.
Radiation hazard is pre-empted by federal regulations.
FCC regulations
say
that any antenna radiating less than 5% of the FCC limit does not require
an
analysis. But if there are over 100 antennas on the tower, each
can be
under 1%, but the total could be over 100% of the limit. No applicant
for a
radio license on the tower would have to do an analysis, but humans
would be
harmed. Who is looking into that? I am being fried enough
by the existing
towers -- maybe they are within the FCC limit and maybe not.
But adding
over 100 new antennas has to be a problem unless they are all very
low power
installations -- which is unlikely.
--------------
From: jspigel@hotmail.com (Jeff Spigel)
Attached are two law review articles that detail the tower siting
debate/issues that have rosen in communities as a result of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996.
(Note: I am not including these articles because of the volume. If you
are
interested, please contact Jeff Spigel directly -- KS)
In case you are not aware, Section 332(c)(7) of the Telecommunications
Act
severely limits the ability of D.C. to apply zoning regulations to
wireless
telecommunications systems (which we should presume are going to be
sited on
ATS's tower). Such measures are permissible only to the extent
that they do
not interfere with the purposes of the TCA. The specific language
of
Section 332 provides that:
(i) The regulation of the placement, construction, and modification
of
personal wireless services facilities by any State or local government
or
instrumentality thereof --
(I) shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally
equivalent services;
(II) shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting
the provision of
personal wireless services;
(iii) A State or local government or instrumentality thereof
shall act on
any request for authorization to place, construct, or modify personal
wireless service facilities within a reasonable period of time after
the
request is duly filed with such government or instrumentality, taking
into
account the nature and scope of such request; and
(iv) Any decision by a State or local government or
instrumentality
thereof
to deny a request to place, construct, or modify personal wireless
service
facilities shall be in writing and supported by substantial evidence
contained in a written record.
47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B)(i)-(iii).
Hope this helps in helping frame the arguments