Moratorium on Cell Tower Applications: Citizen Speaks

Kelly Marcotulli, Ashland

Statement to Ashland City Council, December 17, 2019

We need a moratorium on new cell tower construction in Ashland because it is the right thing to do and because the federal government is not protecting us.

They aren’t doing their job in protecting us from environmental toxins. They did not protect the 346 people who died when Boeing practiced profit over safety.  Other examples of corporations putting profit over safety are endless, and telecom is no exception.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint are clearly prioritizing profit over the health of wildlife, insect life, and human life at a cellular level, as all of these phenomenon have been well documented.  As they place more and more of these toxic towers in our communities, near our homes, schools, churches and parks, there will literally be nowhere to escape the radiation. 

We need a moratorium because, contrary to what the Smartlink representative explained a couple of weeks ago, we do NOT need better cell service in our little town of Ashland.  Everyone gets to where they want to go on their phones and computers in seconds.  Everyone is very capable of checking their email, texts, tweets, and bank records from anywhere at any time.  Everyone can order gifts from Amazon, from anywhere, at any time.   I don’t know anyone who has ever mentioned to me that they just can’t get quality internet here in Ashland.  Have you?   We clearly do not need more towers!

It is hard to escape the irony that this technology is at the core of why many of Ashland’s retail stores are going out of business.  Online purchases are destroying mom and pop businesses all over the country.  Add this to the list of how technology is ripping at the fabric of our society…including its direct link to the epidemic of depression and loneliness, and one has to wonder why this rush to litter our nation, our state, our city with this poison.  There’s absolutely NO benefit to rushing into this.

If we allow these towers and transmitters to be placed wantonly throughout our town, I can see tourists avoiding Ashland. A bunch of ugly 5G cell towers littered over its sublime landscape would repel the folks who come here to escape such blight. 

I know our city council and our city attorney doesn’t want our town to get sued.  I personally believe it’s clearly a battle worth waging.  Ashland and its unsurpassed beauty is worth fighting for.  Our group, Oregon for Safer Technology has drafts of ordinance changes ready for him to review.

We must work together to stop telecom from usurping our local authority, to make our town the best place to live, as well as a welcoming, non-toxic place for tourists to spend their money.   Please help us achieve that goal.