Yes to Piedmont's Health and Kids, No to cell towers near our schools, parks, and homes!

We are a group of concerned Piedmont residents (see list of names below) endorsing this petition.

Do you want your kids to play right next to cell phone towers? Are you concerned with the depreciation of your property value of up to 20% due to cell towers near our homes and schools? Four cell phone towers are being installed in Piedmont, and independently funded research shows there is a health risk:
Because of this, many reputable organizations, such as the California Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Environmental Medicine, International Association of Fire Fighters, and Association of Real Estate Agents, have issued statements of the risks to health and property values.

While 4 of the 9 proposed cell towers are approved, the telecommunication company Crown Castle has filed a lawsuit to have all 9 approved; this would lay the ground work for more cell towers in the future (their goal is to have up to 68 cell tower antennas in Piedmont).

The City of Hillsborough's residents just succeeded in having all 16 Crown Castle cell towers denied--their city is the same size as Piedmont (about 11,500 residents) and they accomplished this with the help of a petition signed by over 1400 residents. While this is the first step of their process, it shows the power of citizen involvement. We need to follow their lead!

We urge you to sign this petition so your voice can be heard. Please sign your full first and last name in order to be counted. We plan to present this petition to Piedmont City Council and request that they take the following actions:

1. Vigorously fight the Crown Castle lawsuit.

2. Revise our City Code's policy on wireless infrastructure to include protections that other prepared California cities (such as Davis, CA, Palos Verdes, CA and Burbank, CA) have adopted. We have included their protections in the petition.
We are a concerned group of Piedmont residents, including two experts in wireless technology, who have investigated this matter extensively to create the city code revisions in this petition. Thank you for your support in taking steps to protect our city and its citizens, especially our children.

Piedmont Residents For Safer Technology

Amy Ajello, Allison Allessio, Matt Allessio, Matt Bainer, Sasha Bainer, Jonathan Becker, Reed Bennett, Samantha Block, John Boris, Tara Boris, Alan Bouris, Amy Bouris, Margaret Bridges, Ph.D., Chris Carnazzo, Lisa Carnazzo, Max Catalano, Zoe Catalano, Claudia Chan, Dr. Danny Chan, MD, Dr. William Choi, Frannie Cooley, Mike Cooley, Amy Cordani, Chris Cordani, Dr. Christine Chung, MD, Sherk Chung, Anne Feste, Ilana Friedkin, Hilary Gitter, Dr. Josh Gitter, MD, Ellie Guidi, Matt Guidi, Dr. Bern Hale, Kala Hale, Peter Harvey, David Hatchell, Elise Hatchell, John Hiestand, Dr. Adrian Hinman, MD, Cindy Hinman, Jen Hong, Walter Hong, Dick Hunt, Joy Hunt, Brando Ibarra, Pamela Ibarra, Caroline Jung, Cori Kau, Zach Kau, Dr. Dhira Khosla, Ina Kim, Adrienne Krumins, Rik Krumins, Kristin Kozinchik, Stephen Kozinchik, Chris Kwei, Eileen Kwei, Kris Lamont, Meredith Lamont, Melanie Layman, Dr. Tom Lee, Nancy Lehrkind, Tom Lehrkind, Carrie Levy, Michelle Snider Luna, Dana Lung, Catherine Tunney McDowell, Nancy Maloney, Gavin McDowell, Dennis Miller, Kathy Miller, Laurie Misra, Srikant Misra, Bruce Mowat, Gala Mowat, Kirsten Myers, Micah Myers, Dr. Matt Nealon, Nicole Nealon, Joy Nieman, Rich Nieman, Shary Nunan, Kartik Ramakrishnan, Chad Rego, Jen Rego, David Rickenbaker, Erin Rickenbaker, Joyce Rickenbaker, Dr. Soraya Rofagha, MD, Joseph Saah, Jamie Saunders, Teebie Saunders, Lincoln Silver, Mary Silver, Liz Silverman, Stan Silverman, Barbara Sloan, Brad Sloan, Alexis Smith, Jerry Smith, Kit Steven, Megan Steven, Aaron Steves, Melissa Stevens, Jane Strauch, Michael Strauch, Jean Takazawa, Tadashi Takazawa, Dr. Phiroz Tarapore, MD, Diana Thomas, Paul Thomas, Mia Tindle, Stephen Tindle, Anian Tunney, Peter Tunney, Alan Vogl, Sandy Vogl, Beshka Vukasin, George Vukasin, Virginia Watkins, Liz Watson, Aron Weisner, Emmy Weisner



PETITION

We, the citizens of Piedmont, want to prevent unnecessary cell tower / antenna installations in our city in order to protect our citizens, especially our children, and our property values. We strongly urge the City Council to:

1) Vigorously fight the Crown Castle lawsuit.

2) Adopt the following revisions (not all-inclusive) that other cities have in place to protect their citizens from unneeded cell towers/antennas:

• Applicants must provide substantial evidence of a significant (Affects large area/many people) gap in existing coverage for calls/texts which the applicants seek to address;

• The Director of Public Works will retain a qualified independent (no ties to telecom industry) RF expert to conduct an assessment and render a comprehensive report that provides an analysis of issues including but not limited to: whether the Wireless Telecommunications Facility (WTF) meets the applicable radio frequency (RF) emission regulations; whether a significant (Affects large area/many people) gap (Unable to call/text) in existing coverage exists and whether the proposed facilities are the least intrusive means of providing such coverage;

• The City is adopting the prudent "Precautionary Principle" and will retain an independent licensed RF engineer to perform quarterly unannounced random testing to ensure that FCC Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) levels are not being exceeded at "Peak." A testing result report will be submitted to the City and the cost of such testing will be borne by the Applicants";

• ALL Piedmont Residents will be sent written notification within three (3) business days of any new WTF Applications or Collocations. These notifications will ask residents to respond if they want to receive continuous updates on such activities.;

• If a significant gap in existing coverage for calls and texts is determined to exist, WTFs should be collocated or located at a site in Zone D (commercial zone) not used for residential purposes.

• Before approving a WTF permit, the reviewing body must find that the facility is necessary to close a significant (Affects large area/many people) gap (Unable to call/Text) in the operator's existing (added existing) service coverage (deleted capacity);

• Any determination of an EXISTING GAP IN COVERAGE in Piedmont shall be made by an independent licensed RF expert retained by the City. A report will be made available to all residents at City Hall and posted in full on the City website within three (3) business days of receipt. If a significant gap in existing coverage is identified, detailed information regarding the specific location addresses will be provided in the report.;

• Unless otherwise required by State or Federal Law, an estimated FUTURE GAP IN CAPACITY shall not be considered as justification for City approval of WTFs. If State or Federal Law does address capacity, such determination of a gap in capacity shall be made by an independent licensed RF expert retained by the City, with a written explanation identifying the existing facilities with service capacity issues together with competent evidence to demonstrate the inability of those facilities to meet capacity demands;

• In the event the applicant seeks to install a WTF to address service coverage concerns, full-color signal propagation maps with objective units of signal strength measurement that show the applicant's current service coverage levels from all adjacent sites without the proposed site, predicted service coverage levels from all adjacent sites with the proposed site, and predicted service coverage levels from the proposed site without all adjacent sites (Rancho Palos Verdes City Code).

• No WTF may, by itself or in conjunction with other WTFs, generate radio frequency emissions and/or electromagnetic radiation in excess of FCC standards and any other applicable regulations. All WTF's must comply with all standards and regulations of the FCC, and any other agency of the State or Federal Government agency with the authority to regulate wireless telecommunications facilities. (Burbank and Davis CA City Codes);

• WTFs in the Public Right of Way (PROW) or on city-owned property in or within five hundred feet of residential, school, or mixed use zones shall generally not be permitted within one thousand three hundred feet of an existing WTF (Davis CA City Code). This standard may be modified upon finding by the planning commission that cumulative visual impacts are not significant and that the WTF is necessary to provide services not possible with collocation on an existing tower or structure in the service area. Independent review of the request, at the applicant's cost, will be required by the city.

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