Keep Cell Antennas Away From Our Elk Grove Homes
(a grassroots campaign that derives its strength from you!)
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An unprecedented opportunity
July 19, 2020
Dear reader,
Please take a couple of minutes today to send a message to the Elk Grove school board. We have an unprecedented opportunity, consisting of support from the teachers union, to slow down and greatly reduce the spread of 4G and 5G cell antennas in the City of Elk Grove – especially at schools. This is urgent!
In this message is a letter you can send the school board and the City Council.
The school board meeting is on July 21, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. You can send in your public comment for this meeting by email at any time, even after the meeting, OR by 4:30 on July 21 through the school board's web form. This message contains a link to the school board web form.
Feel free to ask me any questions. Thank you in advance for writing.
You, the Elk Grove resident who takes the time to write, are what gives this campaign strength. Together we can do a great thing for students, teachers and schools.
Mark Graham
Keep Cell Antennas Away From Our Elk Grove Homes
http://www.keepcellantennasawayfromourelkgrovehomes.org/
July 19, 2020
Contents
News
Elk Grove educators have offered to support any school district opposition to cell antennas
5G hearing fiasco in Mission Viejo: A podcast from the unstoppable leader of Moms Across America.
Action items
Contact
Dear Reader,The hyperlinks in this newsletter may work better if you view it in your browser.
Please share this news with your friends and neighbors, especially parents of EGUSD students. Please share this message and follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Next Door too.
Also, please send me your cell phone number. It will be easier for us to stay in touch. I will only use it for purposes of this campaign and you can unsubscribe from that at any time.
Together we are stronger. Thank you.
Mark Graham
http://www.keepcellantennasawayfromourelkgrovehomes.org/
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Elk Grove educators have offered to support any school district opposition to cell antennas
Elk Grove educators have provided what could be a turning point in the battle over cell antennas.
We have an unprecedented opportunity to keep cell antennas away from Elk Grove public schools – or at least regulate their operation to minimize their harmful effects. We have the support of the Elk Grove Education Association (EGEA, the school district).
EGEA has told the school district that it will support any school district effort to rectify or mitigate the proposed placement of the antennas. Now all we have to do is convince the Board of Trustees to make such an effort. This involves YOU, dear Reader.
You are the next step! This campaign to Keep Cell Antennas Away From Our Elk Grove Homes derives its strength from YOU, dear reader. We should leverage the opportunity that the teachers union has provided by telling the school board to oppose cell antennas at Elk Grove schools That is the basic message. There is more to it than that and the letters I have written for you to send to the school board and City Council explain it.
This newsletter contains a sample letter to the Board of Trustees for their meeting on Tuesday night, July 21, with instructions for how to send it. Thank you in advance for writing. Feel free to skip directly to the A letter you can send to the school board and the City Council .
Background
As you know from earlier newsletters the City of Elk Grove approved a map and list of 15 possible cell antenna locations last August in an agreement with AT&T. The deal was that AT&T could apply for permits at each of those locations and if the permit was complete the City would issue a permit. AT&T’s first application was for 5 cell antennas, all near schools. Two of them were AT schools: 8661 Power Inn Road at Monterey Trail High School and 9050 Vicino Drive at Laguna Creek High School.
One street over from Power Inn Road is Modena Way. In mid March your author made some flyers and distributed them to houses on Modena Way informing them of the City’s plans to issue the permit and the pending application. One resident took the bull by the horns. She took a petition door to door to her neighbors on Modena Way and got 34 of them to sign it in one evening! She delivered those petitions to the City Council via email and spoke about them during public comments at the May 13 meeting. She sent the City a detailed letter on May 18 on behalf of herself and her neighbors asking the City to deny the application, to place several documents including the application on line, and to hold a community meeting via conference call to discuss the whole matter including several specific options that the City has. The City acknowledged her request but has not followed through. They have not issued the permit yet.
Your author reached out to the Elk Grove teachers union again, told them about the application and the 2 cell antennas at the 2 high schools and asked them to take a position. After some follow up yesterday the head of the union informed your author that the teachers union had, “authorized EGUSD Admin to utilize/enlist our association as a concerned party in any efforts they engage in to rectify or mitigate the proposed placement of the antennas.” That is an endorsement of our cause done in a tactful way.
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A letter you can send to the school board
Here is a sample letter you can send. Feel free to personalize and edit it.
Please write to the school board – especially if you have a child in the Elk Grove public schools. Please forward this message to at least one other parent of an EGUSD student.
There are 2 ways you can write to the school board: by email (at any time) or by their web form by 4:30 on July 21. Below is a medium length letter recommended to send by email and then a shorter letter recommended to send by the school board's web form. Please contact me if you have any difficulty or want tech support help on this.
Medium length version, recommended to send by email
Please send this sample letter to the Board of Trustees and Superintendent Hoffman. Their email addresses are:
ealbiani@egusd.net, cdmartin@egusd.net, nchaires@egusd.net, cforcina@egusd.net, cmadisonsr@aol.com, anperez@egusd.net, bsinghal@egusd.net, SuptOffice@egusd.net,
Please send a bcc to me at Mark@keepcellantennasawayfromourelkgrovehomes.org
July 19, 2020
Please write to the school board – especially if you have a child in the Elk Grove public schools. Please forward this message to at least one other parent of an EGUSD student.
There are 2 ways you can write to the school board: by email (at any time) or by their web form by 4:30 on July 21. Below is a medium length letter recommended to send by email and then a shorter letter recommended to send by the school board's web form. Please contact me if you have any difficulty or want tech support help on this.
Medium length version, recommended to send by email
Please send this sample letter to the Board of Trustees and Superintendent Hoffman. Their email addresses are:
ealbiani@egusd.net, cdmartin@egusd.net, nchaires@egusd.net, cforcina@egusd.net, cmadisonsr@aol.com, anperez@egusd.net, bsinghal@egusd.net, SuptOffice@egusd.net,
Please send a bcc to me at Mark@keepcellantennasawayfromourelkgrovehomes.org
July 19, 2020
Dear Elk Grove Board of Trustees, Superintendent Hoffman and staff,
My name is _________________________________ [your name] and I live in Elk Grove.
My son / daughter attends (name of the school that your child attends). [Omit if you do not have a child in the Elk Grove public schools.]
A school is like a family. Students get more from and give more to their family when they interact with it than when they are on their phones.
A school is like a family. Students get more from and give more to their family when they interact with it than when they are on their phones.
I learned recently that the City is considering issuing a permit for 5 cell antennas in Elk Grove, all near public schools. Two of them are AT schools: 8661 Power Inn Road at Monterey Trail High School and 9050 Vicino Drive at Laguna Creek High School. I do not want this to happen to my child’s school. It should not happen to any school.
The City has broad regulatory power over the permitting of cell antennas. The City needs to acknowledge that it has such power and exercise it.
Having a high powered 4G and 5G cell antenna right next to the school is going to distract the students and be detrimental to their education and their focus on their classes. Students should not be on their cell phones during school. Having more and faster wireless internet access is just going to be a very tempting distraction to students. Elk Grove schools already have wifi in the classroom and these antennas are not really for education. In fact they will undermine education.
One of the City’s options is to limit the hours of operation of the antennas to only the last 1 hour before the start of the school day and the first 1 to 1 1/2 hours right after the end of the school day. Students who are on campus could use whatever service is provided without being distracted from their classes during those times.
Federal law partially preempts City regulation of the placement, construction and modification of cell antennas for certain reasons, but harm to education is not one of those reasons. Also, federal law does not preempt City regulation of the operation of cell antennas, which is what I propose.
Also, the City should not add any more cell antenna sites that are near schools. I ask the Board to communicate these recommendations to the City of Elk Grove as soon as possible.
Finally the teachers union will support you on this. I just learned that the Elk Grove teachers union “authorized EGUSD Admin to utilize/enlist our association as a concerned party in any efforts they engage in to rectify or mitigate the proposed placement of the antennas.”
Please speak up for students, for teachers and for schools. Help students stay focused on their school family, education and real life.
Please respond to this message.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address (or street, or just “Elk Grove resident”)]
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Short version, recommended to send by the school board's web form for the July 21 meeting.
You can send this using the school board's public comment form on their page for this meeting.
On that page click on, "Submit a Public Comment for the July 21, 2020 Board Meeting."
The page says, "Written comments received by 4:30 p.m. on July 21, 2020 will be read during the Board meeting, as appropriate." This is under 2,000 characters to fit on their web form.
Dear Elk Grove Board of Trustees, Superintendent Hoffman and staff,
My name is (your name) and I live in Elk Grove.
My son / daughter attends (name of the school that your child attends, if any). A school is like a family. Students get more from and give more to their family when they interact with it than when they are on their phones.
I learned recently that the City is considering issuing a permit for 5 cell antennas in Elk Grove, all near public schools. Two of them are AT schools: 8661 Power Inn Road at Monterey Trail High School and 9050 Vicino Drive at Laguna Creek High School. I do not want this to happen to my child’s school. It should not happen to any school.
Having a high powered 4G and 5G cell antenna right next to the school is going to distract the students from their focus on their classes. Students should not be on their cell phones during school. Having more and faster wireless internet access is just going to be a very tempting distraction to students.
Please ask the City to deny the application and to not issue the permits.
One of the City’s options is to limit the hours of operation of the antennas to only the last 1 hour before the start of the school day and the first 1 1/2 hours at the end of the school day. Students could use whatever service is provided without being distracted from their classes or school activities during those times.
The City should not add any more cell antenna sites that are near schools. I ask the Board to communicate these recommendations to the City of Elk Grove as soon as possible.
Finally the teachers union will support you on this. I just learned that the teachers union “authorized EGUSD Admin to utilize our association as a concerned party in any efforts they engage in to rectify or mitigate the proposed placement of the antennas.”
Please speak up for students, for teachers and for schools. Help students stay focused on
their school family, education, and real life.
Please respond to this message.
Thank you.
[Your name and address (or street, or just “Elk Grove resident”)]
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Short version, recommended to send by the school board's web form for the July 21 meeting.
You can send this using the school board's public comment form on their page for this meeting.
On that page click on, "Submit a Public Comment for the July 21, 2020 Board Meeting."
The page says, "Written comments received by 4:30 p.m. on July 21, 2020 will be read during the Board meeting, as appropriate." This is under 2,000 characters to fit on their web form.
Dear Elk Grove Board of Trustees, Superintendent Hoffman and staff,
My name is (your name) and I live in Elk Grove.
My son / daughter attends (name of the school that your child attends, if any). A school is like a family. Students get more from and give more to their family when they interact with it than when they are on their phones.
I learned recently that the City is considering issuing a permit for 5 cell antennas in Elk Grove, all near public schools. Two of them are AT schools: 8661 Power Inn Road at Monterey Trail High School and 9050 Vicino Drive at Laguna Creek High School. I do not want this to happen to my child’s school. It should not happen to any school.
Having a high powered 4G and 5G cell antenna right next to the school is going to distract the students from their focus on their classes. Students should not be on their cell phones during school. Having more and faster wireless internet access is just going to be a very tempting distraction to students.
Please ask the City to deny the application and to not issue the permits.
One of the City’s options is to limit the hours of operation of the antennas to only the last 1 hour before the start of the school day and the first 1 1/2 hours at the end of the school day. Students could use whatever service is provided without being distracted from their classes or school activities during those times.
The City should not add any more cell antenna sites that are near schools. I ask the Board to communicate these recommendations to the City of Elk Grove as soon as possible.
Finally the teachers union will support you on this. I just learned that the teachers union “authorized EGUSD Admin to utilize our association as a concerned party in any efforts they engage in to rectify or mitigate the proposed placement of the antennas.”
Please speak up for students, for teachers and for schools. Help students stay focused on
their school family, education, and real life.
Please respond to this message.
Thank you.
[Your name and address (or street, or just “Elk Grove resident”)]
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Also write to the City Council
You can also write to to the City Council and staff. Write to them care of the City Clerk, Jason Lindgren, at jlindgren@elkgrovecity.org and use either the medium (better) or short version. The next Council meeting will be Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 6:00.
Change the salutation to, “Dear Mayor Ly, City Council Members and Staff,”. Also take out,
The rest of the letter you can leave as is. As earlier, feel free to personalize your letter.
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"I ask the Board to communicate this entire message to the City of Elk Grove as soon as possible.
Finally the teachers union will support you on this. I just learned that the Elk Grove teachers union 'authorized EGUSD Admin to utilize/enlist our association as a concerned party in any efforts they engage in to rectify or mitigate the proposed placement of the antennas.'”
Finally the teachers union will support you on this. I just learned that the Elk Grove teachers union 'authorized EGUSD Admin to utilize/enlist our association as a concerned party in any efforts they engage in to rectify or mitigate the proposed placement of the antennas.'”
The rest of the letter you can leave as is. As earlier, feel free to personalize your letter.
You can also make an audio recording of your message and send it to Mr. Lindgren. Audio recordings are provided to the Council Members but they may not listen to them.. The best way to reach the City Council is to arrange for the City to call you during public comments so you can speak to the Council live. To arrange that write to the City Clerk at jlindgren@elkgrovecity.org and give your name and phone number and say that you want to speak to the Council during public comments.
Alternatively, comments may be provided by leaving a voicemail with the Clerk at 916-478-2286. Such audio comments must be received by 4:00 p.m. the day of the City Council meeting to ensure that the comments are provided to the City Council.
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A 5G hearing fiasco in Mission Viejo
A podcast from Moms Across America by the unstoppable Zen Honeycutt.
I had the pleasure of working with Zen Honeycutt on Monday, July 13, in opposition to the first two cell antennas in the City of Mission Viejo, California. Long story short we waited through a four hour long condo project during a Planning and Transportation Commission hearing and then were denied our right to speak during public comments. The Chair and the entire Commission were obviously in a big hurry to blast through public comments as fast as possible so they could approve these cell antennas.
Zen has a podcast called “Unstoppable with Zen Honeycutt”. In Episode 62, 5G Hearing Fiasco, Zen tells the story.
On April 6, I told you about Mom’s Across America, led by Founder & Executive Director Zen Honeycutt. Moms Across America is a National Coalition of Unstoppable Moms. From the beginning they have worked to educate people about healthy food choices, going organic and avoiding glyphosate. That work continues but now they are also working on cell antennas.
Questions or recommendations? Please get in touch! Write to Mark@keepcellantennasawayfromourelkgrovehomes.org
You can always email the Council and staff care of the City Clerk, Jason Lindgren, who will distribute your message to them. His email address is jlindgren@lkegrovecity.org
Elk Grove City Council meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of every month. They are scheduled to begin at 6:00 and actually begin between 6:00 and 6:45. They are held in the Council Chambers located at 8400 Laguna Palms Way across the street from City Hall.
Members of the audience can speak on any item on the agenda or on items not on the agenda.
During the quarantine the Council Chambers are closed to the public during Council meetings. The agenda describes the ways available for making public comments. You can send in your comments in print or an mp3 audio file or you can email the City Clerk to call you during the meeting so that you can speak. The best way it to make an audio file of your public comments, up to 3 minutes long, and send it to the City Clerk, whose email address follows.
Ordinarily, when there is no virus, you can fill out a blue speaker card on the table at the back of the room and give it to the Assistant City Clerk, who sits at the front left of the room facing the audience.
City Council meeting agendas are available on the City's website. You can also subscribe to be notified of new agendas, hearings, etc.
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