REPRINT of OCT. 2011 Response from CEO Burrell Ellis' Office

(click headline for the full story)

Did you know?

The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), the same category that includes exhaust fumes from automobiles. So, why do our schools appear to be concerned about one, and not the other?

Here is a reprint of the response we received on October 18, 2011 to an email sent to CEO Burrell Ellis.  We asked him to please explain the process by which the towers would be approved or denied so that we could participate in the public input portion of the process.

The claims that the school system is exempt are not correct.  We later showed the commissioners a Supreme Court case decision that proved the exemption only applies if the land being leased will be used for educational or public purposes, not proprietary (profit-making).

This is the response we received:

To:  Get the Cell  Out - Atlanta

From:  CEO Burrell Ellis' Office

Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 2:39:30 PM

Subject: RE: cell tower at MLK Jr. H.S.
Dear (Get the Cell Out - Atlanta):

Your email has been forwarded to the Office of CEO Burrell Ellis. Thank you for writing and expressing your concerns. After discussing with Planning staff, we have learned that the school system is exempt from county zoning ordinances, and that the towers are to be located on school system property, of which the CEO or BOC has no oversight or jurisdiction. ...

However, in the event that a permit application is filed, the County performs an inspection of the site, but has no approval authority on the erection of cell towers.*
I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,
Special Assistant, DeKalb County Government
330 W. Ponce De Leon, Decatur, GA 30030
office: (404) 371-6304 | fax: (404) 371-6291 |

(* we believe the author meant "on school property" because otherwise this statement would be incorrect They do have the approval authority of all other cell towers. At GTCO-ATL, we believe they should have the same authority for cell towers at schools. Just because the school is exempt should not mean that the business that is building a for-profit structure on leased property should be allowed to 'inherit' that same exemption... should they?)

*************************************************************

Dear Residents and taxpayers in DeKalb County:

If you are like us, it probably does not make you feel very happy or safe to know that cell towers, which are huge structures normally seen only in Industrial locations or along Interstates far away from homes or schools, can be constructed in the middle of a residential community, on public school property that's actively being used for education of children, the group of people most susceptible to possible harm from RF Radiation.

These dangerous towers that emit radiation and contain HAZMAT materials at the bottom are normally expected to meet the approval of the county commissioners and pass the zoning and permitting authorities which involves public notice and comment. But, at least here in DeKalb County, the cell companies can avoid all the red tape including paying property taxes as long as they go up on school property. They do not have to follow any criteria that has been set forth to protect the public and maintain property values.

They only need approval from a school board that's willing to lease its property to them. And, this, too, can be accomplished without notification to the public. The people being affected by the decisions - the children who attend the schools and the people who pay the taxes to support the school - are completely left out of the process by which the decision is made.

*************************************************************

If you are not satisfied with a government that is leaving you out of the equation, we suggest you try to voice your concern at the next Community Council Meeting for your district.

Community Councils are advisory groups of DeKalb County citizens that review applications for land use map amendments and zoning applications such as special land use permits, rezones, and amendments to the text of the zoning ordinance. There are five Community Councils, one for each Board of Commissioners district.

The Councils meet every other month if there are zoning or land use map amendment applications for property within their district. Meetings are held at neighborhood libraries or other County facilities, and are facilitated by DeKalb County staff.

At the Community Council meetings, the public has an opportunity to discuss zoning or land use map amendment applications that will eventually be decided upon by the Board of Commissioners. After the Community Council meetings, the public has opportunities to comment on applications at public hearings that are held by the Planning Commission and by the Board of Commissioners.

For details about when the next meeting will be held for your zone, click here:

http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/planning/pdf/calendars/ccSchedule.pdf. 

We suggest you try to talk to them now BEFORE a cell tower shows up next door to your home or at your child's school. Let's get some answers and try to make our system work the way it was supposed to work - to protect the citizens, especially those who are too young to have a voice to speak up for themselves.

Please help us stop T-mobile wireless towers at our schools! 30 seconds to sign to stop 30 years of radiating our children! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/GTCO-ATL/

Posted 27th October 2011 by GETthe CELLoutATL

PTA President Admits Prior Knowledge of Cell Tower Proposal

As reported on DeKalb County School Watch blog:

Words were exchanged in anger, tempers flared and PTA President Evelyn Cunningham, wife of school board representative Jesse “Jay” Cunningham, admitted she had been aware of talks with the DeKalb County School System (DCSS) regarding the cell tower proposal for more than a year. She offered no explanation about why the subject was not announced to the parents or community until May, just a month before the school board was scheduled to vote.
Cunningham approached the group of approximately 12 - 14 people who had gathered outside the entrance to Martin Luther King, Jr. High School around 11 am. Monday, Oct 24, to inspect the location where they recently learned a T-mobile cell tower will reside for the next 30 years, thanks to the school board’s approval to lease its property, along with eight other school properties, in exchange for about $400 a month which will be deposited into the county’s general fund. The deal also includes a one-time payment of $25,000 that will also be deposited into the general fund, but those funds will be “directed” by the PTA or a School Booster Club that the school wishes to support.

While the group was assembled outside the school, a spokesperson for the local non-profit group “Get the Cell Out - Atlanta” was also being interviewed by a reporter from WXIA-TV for a story related to SPLOST IV. That story has not yet aired. As the group was disassembling and preparing to return to their vehicles or walk back to their nearby homes, Ms. Cunningham approached them and demanded to know their names and what had been reported to the news media. After several minutes, the group convinced the PTA officer to calm down and discuss her concerns rationally, which is when she admitted to having known about the cell towers for more than a year. When asked if she received the information from her husband, she replied that it was her understanding that lots of people in the PTA were aware of the proposal and it was not specific to anything her husband told her directly.

The DeKalb County Board of Education Administrative Rule O.C.G.A. 20-2-1160 requires: "… public forums from time to time, especially when dealing with controversial issues or matters of deep community concern, to receive input from citizens on policy issues, the educational program, and school administration."

The DCSS official position on the subject of public notification has been that public meetings were held at each of the schools once carrier T-mobile had been selected. Critics claim the flyer sent home with children was vague and did not convey the message that the meeting was to discuss the intent to place cell towers on the school property.

DeKalb County zoning laws specific to the permitting of cell towers has language that prohibit cell phone or cell tower companies from constructing towers, which emit low levels of RF radiation 24 hours a day, within close proximity of residential neighborhoods unless there are no other suitable alternatives. T-mobile representatives stated during the school meetings in May that the schools were selected because they were the “easiest” choice for them to pursue, not the last alternative as required by the county.

T-mobile also reported in the community meetings, according to one parent who attended the meeting at Brockett Elementary in Tucker, that they did not want to build their towers in neighborhoods where they are not wanted. The community members and neighborhood associations near Martin Luther King, Jr. High School have stated that they have been shut out of the process completely, only learning recently that a 150’ tower with a base size of 60’ x 60’ has been approved by the school board.”

At the July 11 board meeting, Jay Cunningham spoke out on the cell tower issue, stating that the community was in favor. In an interview with a reporter from the Crossroads newspaper in July, Cunningham said “Everybody has their view,” adding that he only had one call opposing the proposal. “Everybody had no problem with it. I didn’t hear anything negative from the community.” Read more: CrossRoadsNews - Cell Towers Going to Schools

“It is very disappointing and makes you wonder if you can trust anyone in this school system,” stated one of the people who witnessed the altercation between the PTA President and the community members who say they would like some answers.

“We have fought things like this before,” said one man from a neighborhood right next door to the school. “This is the first time something like this has happened where they plan to allow zoning for something and we do not hear about it until it is too late.”

For similar meeting held by School Board Member Paul Womack at Briarlake Elementary, click here: Womack T-mobile Cell Tower Meeting.

DeKalb County - Why Bother? Why Care?

Well, here we are again. Back to square one. After fighting and campaigning against the cell tower that our DeKalb County School Board wanted to place at our child’s elementary school, my husband and I learned that our public school system is a lot different than what we expected it would be. After speaking up in an attempt to alert the other communities that were not as fortunate as we were to get our school removed from the list, we learned a lot more about school politics. The more we learn, the more we are forced to see the difference between our hopes and the reality that is DeKalb.

It isn’t really the fault of the community. They are doing the best they can to support our schools, but without children in attendance, how are they supposed to know what type of help the schools might need? In the past, children went door to door selling candy or magazines, with or without parents in tow. It gave neighbors a chance to contribute to a worthy cause, support the children and the neighborhood school and also learn about what was going on inside the school.

Neighbors felt more connected to each other back then. And, children learned some basic lessons about America - offer a good product at a reasonable price to people you know can afford it. Build trust with your customers and your efforts can do amazing things, especially when combined with similar hard work from the others on your team. And, by working extra hard, you might be rewarded personally with prizes and recognition from your peers.

These days, our schools are filled with children that come from all over the county and are more likely to transfer or drop out than they are to graduate. Neighbors who live near our schools may still believe their tax dollars are being directed toward helping the kids from the block, which would in turn help maintain or boost everyone’s property values nearby, including their own. That’s the way things used to work, right? That’s the way it is supposed to work.

I’m sure the Realtors are likely still using their same, worn-out sales pitches to tell potential homebuyers about the test scores and demographics that make up the nearby school as a way to justify the price or quality of “desirable” neighborhoods. I’m less sure they are including the page of information that includes recent trends because there probably are a bunch of arrows going in the wrong direction. The number of students considered at or below poverty level is growing and might soon be the picture we paint when talking about all of our schools if current trends continue.

We all make assumptions about how we think things are working because it might be too heavy of a dose of guilt if we allowed ourselves to see how things are really working. But, that isn’t really our fault, either. You can’t blame people for wanting to think positive, believe in the good nature of others or pray for a miracle. But, then again, when you have a system that is failing children, it is essentially failing all of us, past, present and future.

Failure to meet educational goals is a failure to respect our own history. As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are also disgracing his name. The high school in our own county that is named for the iconic civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, was selected by some unknown criteria to receive a cell tower on school property and the public was not properly notified.

Once we were able to finally get in touch with some people in the community in Lithonia to tell them about what was going on, they were ready to take action. They quickly organized an informational meeting and prepared to invite the community leaders to explain their actions. There was even talk of a peaceful protest, homemade signs, media coverage… but then they decided to cancel the meeting until further notice.

It seems that these days, even peaceful protesting will not get you very far. Just look at the Occupy Atlanta Group. They started out getting a lot of attenton, but when everyone realized that they would not really be making any demands and had no real exit strategy, the group sort of lost its appeal. It's hard to support a team you don't expect to win. It's even harder to protest something when it feels like you have already lost. But, we have been down this road before. And, we have learned that we are not alone. There are a lot of people who feel the same way we do, and our petition has never lost its forward momentum so we know that the more people we tell about what has happened, the more people will be prepared when it happens to them.

“They said it is a done deal,” said on GTCO-ATL member who had hoped to get some answers from the local board. “We are going to keep trying to figure out how this could have happened, but it sounds like it is already a done deal.”

So that leads us to question the future of our county, our schools, our collective dreams about the Atlanta we thought we knew. We were so proud to be a part of a great city that would show the rest of America that it is possible to live side by side with each other, integrating our schools, learning about each other’s cultures, educating and caring for all our children.

We never expected that our schools, of all things, would be the beginning of the downfall of our the prestige and momentum this city was gaining after hosting the Olympics in 1996. We never heard of SPLOST and didn’t know anyone who had ever been foreclosed on, or laid off or “furloughed.”

So, let us know what you think. Is this a fight worth continuing? Is there a way to get our government to pay attention and stop taking advantage of all of us? Is there any hope we can stop fighting among ourselves long enough to see the big picture so we can unite instead?

Do you realize that once a single tower goes up at a school, a door will have been opened for the school board to place any kind of commercial business they want on ACTIVE school property whenever they want? And with the no-zoning laws, they can select any type of business they want, even if it is offensive, dangerous or an eyesore that drags property values down.

They don’t care, but they don’t live here. We do. They don’t care, but it’s not their money. It’s ours and we just keep giving them more. They don’t care; they’re rich. Are you?

As we consider the options before us and we continue to make new friends along the way, we will be asking ourselves the same question we have asked so many time, "What can we do?" I hope that somehow that spirit will be contagious enough that you might ask yourself the same question. And, perhaps together we might be insired and lucky enough at the same time to find something that works!

IMPORTANT: Please urge your neighbors and friends to VOTE NO ON SPLOST IV on November 8, 2011.
Stop funding the projects of the people who did this to us.


Caption 1: Kids at Stone Mountain Playground help tell others about a cell tower coming to their school courtesy of T-mobile, DCSS and something called an "Administrative Permit" that means the public does not have a say in the zoning process and the schools are exempt from regulation.

Caption 2: A very large cell tower mast already functioning in DeKalb County and registered to AT&T. Where is it located? About .25 miles down the road from an elementary school that will also be getting a tower on their property and wi-fi in their classroom if the school board gets its way. The cumulative effects of multiple sources of low-level RF radiation is the subject of controversy as it has not been studied, is barely regulated and is suspected by the World Health Organization to be a possible human carcinigen that can lead to a variety of forms of cancer. It's effects on chilren are unknown but suspected to be more harmful as RF radiation attacks DNA cells and causes damage to them. These are the cells that children are still developing as their systems are not fully developed and are rapidly growing. In addition to cancer, a long list of symptoms are known to degrade the quality of life of those who are forced to live near a cell tower or attend a school that has one.

To the MLK, Jr. High School Community: Keep Up the Great Work!

Making a pledge to support our efforts to unite the county against the unfair lease agreement signed by the school board that will place cell towers at 9 of our schools, some dedicated community members are working together to spread the word and encourage people to sign our petition.

The kids at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School should be proud of their community and are encouraged to download the blank petition sheets from our website so that they can help the cause, too.

We have a goal of 100 signatures per school, so get out there and tell people about the issue, the petition and remind them to vote NO on SPLOST IV!

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.
-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

BREAKING NEWS: M.L. King, Jr. High School Cell Tower Application Filed

M.L. King, Jr. High School appears to have its application filed for the T-mobile cell tower. If the standard 30-day rule is in effect, that gives nearby homeowners and parents until Oct. 19, same as Flat Rock Elementary, to oppose the location. Contact your county commissioner or Andrew Baker, the DeKalb County Interim Director of Planning & Sustainability, 404-371-2881.

Also, please join the growing number of citizens who have signed the petition to let lawmakers and school board members know that we opposed cell towers at all schools in our county: www.thepetitionsite.com/1/GTCO-ATL.