Lack of Coverage of 5G Wireless Hearing

Dear Editor, On March 9th, the subject of theTopanga Canyon Town Council’s (TCTC) monthly meeting was a presentation by 5G Free California regarding the LA County Draft Wireless Ordinance. A hearing before the L.A.County Department of Regional Planning (DRP) was held on March 23rd that approved the ordinance, which now goes to the Board of Supervisors in early summer. The presentation and discussion were timely to say the least. A reporter from The Canyon Chronicle attended, but the [Town Council] Report that was published made no mention of the meeting subject, the hearing, or why the discussion was so heated. Even TCTC president Carrie Carrier expressed her concerns about the rush to get the ordinance passed quickly, and the lack of sensitivity to people who are already having symptoms from wireless and the failure of the draft ordinance to mention or respond to health issues. The ordinance, which is likely to be passed into law in June when the Board of Supervisors meet, will institutionalize the current practice of placing small cell towers, aka 5G, every 200-500 feet, many directly in front of people’s homes without notice or the opportunity to appeal, and will eliminate the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as Conditional Use Permit (CUP) reviews. If passed, your constitutional right to appeal and to safety in your home will be ignored. It will also exacerbate utility fire dangers. Many California cities including Malibu, Encinitas, Petaluma, Elk Grove, and others have protective ordinances which prevent the locating of cell towers within 500 or 1000 feet from people’s homes as this technology is harmful, as proven in the over 10,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies and the recent win in the FCC lawsuit on the FCC’s failure to update their standards and exposure levels for 26 years. The judge’s decision in the case said that the FCC was arbitrary and capricious in ignoring the clear evidence of harm, particularly to children. Small cells, aka 5G, require a two- to three-fold increase in 4G towers and are huge energy guzzlers and, again, increase fire danger. They do not improve cell phone signals—they are all about data speed and the Telecom estimate that by 2025 they will profit to the tune of $13 TRILLION dollars a year from the sale of our personal data. Since neither of our newspapers considered this information sufficiently important for you to weigh in by the DRP deadline, I am sharing this information in the hopes that those of you who may have concerns will contact your Supervisor, copy (cc) the other supervisors and DRP as soon as possible to weigh in on this important issue. [Supervisor Sheila Kuehl is Topanga’s representative. For sample letters and more information, email me at: 5GFreeCalifornia@gmail.com. Emails for DRP and Supervisors to notify: eluna@planning.lacounty.gov Ordinance@planning.lacounty.gov info@planning.lacounty.gov firstdistrict@bos.lacounty.gov (Supervisor Hilda L. Solis) hollyJMitchell@bos.lacounty.gov (Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell) sheila@bos.lacounty.gov (Supervisor Sheila Kuehl) FourthDistrict@bos.lacounty.gov (Supervisor Janice Hahn) Kathryn@bos.lacounty.gov (Supervisor Kathryn Barger) Thanks for caring. Sincerely, Julie Levine, 5G Free California, (310) 455-9389