Photo courtesy Paul Sakuma/AP.
By Luke Thomas
August 24, 2011
A coalition of community groups will file a lawsuit today to halt the installation of 726 AT&T U-Verse utility boxes on San Francisco sidewalks.
The lawsuit is being filed by San Francisco Beautiful and co-litigants, San Francisco Tomorrow, Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association, and Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association.
“We really don’t want to sue, but we are left no choice when the City refuses to uphold its own environmental codes and is about to give away our sidewalks for the benefit of a private company without any objective review,” said Milo Hanke, past president of San Francisco Beautiful. “We are confident that an Environmental Impact Report will advance commonsense mitigation methods, such as placing the equipment on private property.”
Milo Hanke.
The coalition is filing the lawsuit to compel The City to conduct an environmental review as required by CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. CEQA requires that an environmental impact report (EIR) be prepared before The City considers any project that may have significant environmental impacts, including cumulative effects on aesthetics. The lawsuit seeks to immediately halt the installation of any utility boxes while the case is pending.
The groups say the large boxes pose a pedestrian hazard and will significantly impact public walkways.
Following an aggressive lobbying campaign, the Board of Supervisors in July granted AT&T a categorical exemption to install the boxes without an EIR.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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The Hunger Site
September 6, 2011 at 10:01 am
El Greco shoots …
And, he scooorrreeesss! Yeah, the refusal to go fiber-optic by AT&T handcuffs thousands of creative San Franciscans who simply can’t rely on consistently reliable bandwidth to take advantage of the unlimited applications now available in the marketplace.
The villain here?
My buddy, David Campos who provided the swing vote (6-5) in favor of AT&T.
h.
August 25, 2011 at 6:19 am
AT&T’s proposed utility boxes have nothing to do with wireless cell phones. The utility boxes are AT&T’s upgrade for old copper wire (which they own and goes into every SF home) to carry internet, cable TV, and landline phone service which AT&T is marketing as “U-verse” to compete with Comcast’s “Xfinity” service.
It is precisely because AT&T refuses to replace the copper wire with with fiber optic to each building, that the utility boxes are required. There is nothing to prevent AT&T from going completely fiber optic as Comcast has done–the utility boxes are not “required”. Even if AT&T does goes with utility boxes, other options exist such as siting them on private property, undergrounding them, or integrating them into streetscape elements such as benches, planters, bus stops, etc.
But AT&T’s utility boxes would do nothing for your iPhone service–they’re completely unrelated.
August 24, 2011 at 2:37 pm
If I can’t get cell phone reception, should I call “ANONYMOUS” to fight for my free speech rights? (this is intended as a joke). However, the city could sure use a creative way to provide better cell phone reception (hopefully without the boxes). But one way or another, wireless connections in SF need to improve…
August 24, 2011 at 12:30 pm
…and who is gonna stop Egomaniacal Ellison from commandeering the waterfront at Rincon Park so that his buddies can have permanent anchorage for their mega yachts; restrict public accesss and block our view of the Bay.
One of the candidates for sheriff was instrumental in fixing the original deal, hope he’s gonna step up and police this latest landgrab.