San Mateo’s royal mess up with Crown Castle

This expected competency has not been achieved in San Mateo’s handling of Crown Castle’s “small cell facilities” — antennas placed on city-owned lights and utility poles — for redundant, subscription-based wireless home internet. The facilities emit radiation 24/7, at levels which leading science has shown causes harm.

The situation has been poorly handled from the beginning. Public Works staff held regular meetings with Crown Castle behind closed doors, granting their demands. They did not utilize an independent expert to process the facility applications, as is allowed. City staff then approved faulty, incomplete permits without adhering to current application and code requirements.

Public Works staff and city engineers are not equipped with the legal and technical qualifications to process and grant such permits, as was unfortunately the case in San Mateo. A separate team of self-admittedly uninformed commissioners were left to decide on numerous resident appeals. As a result, permits were rubber-stamped.

Other California cities (especially wealthier communities) maximize restrictions, requiring wireless applicants to demonstrate a “gap in coverage” and prove that a denial will result in an “effective prohibition” — a formidable sounding legal term that industry uses to threaten ill-informed cities to support their predatory business goals.

San Mateo must raise its protective standards and support residents.

Kelly Ryerson

San Mateo