Clearwire problems in Florida; residents here and there work together

We’re not the only City discovering problems with Clearwire’s wireless-internet equipment. Residents of Tampa, Florida, are organizing to protect their own neighborhoods. I recently received an update from Tampa residents, Marlin Anderson and Carrie Grimail.

In Tampa, F&L Towers LLC wants permission to exceed local height codes by 88% -- they’re seeking an adjustment on the height code, taking it from 80 ft max to 150 ft max. From Anderson and Grimail:

The proposed tower is 150 feet tall ... and just a little over 80 feet from the Sunset Park condominiums. A typical lot is 50 feet in our area, so imagine this tower being less than two houses away from your property line. … At 150 feet it will be almost as tall as a 15 story building….

F & L Towers also plans to ask Tampa’s City Council to adjust the distance required from a tower to a residence. Anderson and Grimail write:

The minimum distance from the tower to the boundaries of a residence is the height of the tower. With a height of 150 feet, the tower would need to be located at least 150 feet from the boundaries of Sunset Park condominiums. The distance is only 83 feet, and a waiver is being requested to reduce the required distance from 150 feet to 83 feet. ... It’s to be battleship gray to "blend in" with the surroundings. But it won't blend in. Remember, the tallest nearby building on Henderson Blvd is just 3 stories ...

This is where Clearwire enters the story; F&L Towers revealed at a community meeting last week that the first lessee on this new tower will be Clearwire. Anderson and Grimail raise a number of interesting points we should all keep in mind:

Clearwire is a new 4th generation wireless service, and their competitors will be Verizon and AT&T. From recent newspaper articles, it appears that all of the towers that Verizon and AT&T will need to roll out their 4th generation wireless service were installed in Tampa during 2009. However, Clearwire has a much weaker signal than Verizon and AT&T, and consequently would like to install towers every 1500 hundred feet all over our city.
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Clearwire has succeeded in some other cities in getting permits to install pole extensions onto pre-existing light poles and other utility poles. With these permits, they can install new poles without a land use review, because they are using the poles as if they were a utility. The pole extensions in Portland are 60 feet high, and
Clearwire has already installed 50 or 60 poles or towers in Portland , and they
want to install even more. These poles are being installed in residential neighborhoods, on residential streets, right in front of people’s homes. (Note from S. Stewart, one such extra tall pole is proposed in the Beaumont-Wilshire Neighborhood in Portland, visit http://www.respectpdx.org/ to learn more about it.)
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Once granted, these permits give Clearwire the rights and access of a utility. However, unlike our power and telephone lines, they are not providing universal service, but instead only to some members of the community who sign up for Clearwire’s service. And unlike cable companies who only have to run wires, the proliferation of pole extensions will have a major negative impact on the aesthetics of our neighborhoods and our city.If they were to receive this permission in Tampa, this would result in a grid of poles throughout our residential neighborhoods. If we allow this to go forward, you will soon find noisy "boxes" on tall poles outside your homes and all over your neighborhood. … Furthermore, it is not known if Clearwire will be able compete with Verizon and AT&T, and could go out of business, leaving us stuck with tall poles in our neighborhoods all over town.
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To sum up, we shouldn’t be allowing a company to profit at the expense of our neighborhoods by harming our aesthetics and reducing our property values. We shouldn’t allow this proposed cell tower at Henderson and Manhattan , and, if necessary, we need to oppose efforts to install poles or pole extensions in residential neighborhoods in the City of Tampa.

Clearwire wants TALL towers

Residents of the Beaumont/Wilshire Neighborhood found out recently that Clearwire wants to install new, very tall poles near homes. Because of our own long ordeal with a noisy Clearwire device, we've warned the folks in Beaumont/Wilshire to look through Clearwire’s application for any equipment that might have moving parts (especially a cooling fan). Neighbors are concerned about health issues associated with the electromagnetic waves emitted by wireless technologies. To learn more about the case in the Beaumont/Wilshire neighborhood, visit http://www.respectpdx.org/

On January 13, Beaumont/Wilshire neighbors held a public meeting with Clearwire and city reps. It sounds like it got heated. Their next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 28th from 7-8 pm in the Beaumont Middle School library - the neighborhood will decide what position to take at this meeting. George Polas, one of the Mt. Tabor residents that has had to live with a noisy Clearwire device since it was installed in October 2008, attended the first Beaumont/Wilshire meeting on the 13th. Here is an excerpt from his report afterwards:

There were about 80 people there [at the Beaumont-Wilshire meeting], and they were very vocal. Reporters from some local newspapers attended, and I was interviewed by one of them. I also testified about the 14 month ordeal I experienced with Clearwire and their noisy equipment. I think I opened up some eyes to this problem that others are going to experience in various neighborhoods. The Clearwire rep. was mentioning a small noise problem on 50th and Burnside and some other false sayings regarding what they are doing in Portland. When I spoke, things were considerably cleared up regarding what is true or false with this unwanted company. He didn't realize I was in attendance. He had no counter arguments to what I presented.

The Noise of Clearwire's Wireless-Internet

Clearwire promises to blanket our city in wireless internet connectivity. They appear to be blanketing our city in noise.

In October of 2008, Clearwire installed a wireless internet device about the size of a refrigerator on a telephone pole on a quiet residential street in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood. (The telephone pole's address is 44 SE 50th Ave.) The residents on this street no longer live in quiet. The Clearwire device has a noisy cooling fan, that cycles on and off 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It clicks on and off, day and night. While it is on it produces noise audible within the homes nearby. In hot weather, it turns on more often and stays on longer -- which means neighbors have to live with this noise in their bedrooms all summer, or they have to close their windows and live without Portland's wonderfully cool night air.

Not long after this device was first installed, KATU did a short story about it, which you can see here: http://www.katu.com/news/35688754.html?video=YHI&t=a

The amount of noise this device makes has fluctuated throughout the past year as neighbors, MTNA, and Paul Van Orden with the city's noise office have harangued Clearwire officials for improvements. Every request was met with a slow response from Clearwire, and on at least one occasion their efforts made the noise get louder and stay that way for months. The first technical readings of the noise produced by this box revealed this device was violating noise codes. When the city's noise officer investigated the technical specs of the device (as supplied by the manufacturer) we discovered it was designed to make more noise than Portland's noise codes would allow.

After more than a year of communication between Clearwire, the City, the neighbors and MTNA, Clearwire finally produced a fix in early January 2010 that makes this one box meet Portland noise codes. I have not seen Clearwire offer to bring the other 50+ boxes located around this city into compliance, and I have not seen them offer to make this "fix" a part of every new box that gets installed.

But, the problem is not gone. I am sad to report that the neighbors closest to this device can still hear the noise it makes, and all of its cycles, inside their homes. It is quieter than it was, but not quiet enough to return the neighborhood to what it was before this box was installed. I draw two conclusions at this point:

1) The noise codes as written are not adequate for items being installed in residential Right-Of-Ways (ROWs). A device on a telephone pole is in a unique position to project noise in all directions and effect many neighbors. The allowed decibel level should be reduced to something that is effectively inaudible to residents sleeping with their windows open in nearby homes.

2) Seemingly, Clearwire is sourcing cheap, noisy fans for their wireless internet products. Portlanders should insist on better, quieter fans, or this city will be blanketed in noise. This box just might appear on a pole outside your bedroom.