Citing concerns about sidewalk access restrictions and graffiti, the Sierra Club is calling on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to authorize an Environment Impact Report before granting AT&T the right to install 726 U-Verse utility boxes in San Francisco. Photo courtesy AT&T.
By Rebecca Evans, Chair, San Francisco Group, Sierra Club
May 20, 2011
Today, the Sierra Club is urging the Board of Supervisors to require AT&T to produce an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on its proposed installation of 726 utility boxes on the sidewalks of San Francisco.
This issue is up for a final vote by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Up to this point, neither AT&T nor Planning Commission have offered any objective and transparent review process to ensure that the installation would not block our sidewalks and increase “tagging” right where we walk.
Photo courtesy SF Beautiful.
Without an environmental evaluation, the impact of these boxes could be problematic to our neighborhoods. The placement of the boxes has not been established, although they will be built within close proximity of existing utility boxes and other equipment which could impede pedestrians.
To be clear, the Sierra Club believes that an EIR is necessary because the utility boxes could block and diminish our walking, leading to driving and congestion increases.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) states that “the possible effects of a project are individually limited but cumulatively considerable… that the incremental effects of an individual project are considerable when viewed in connection with the effects of past projects, the effects of other current projects, and the effects of probable future projects.”
AT&T currently has over 1,000 existing boxes across the City. Adding another 726 is significant. While there was a categorical exemption granted, this was based on the premise that there is no “cumulative effect”. This reasoning is specious, at best.
There is reasonable doubt that the evaluation process did not follow CEQA regulations and that AT&T has not made a concerted effort to consider all alternatives. (CEQA), requires an EIR to ensure efforts are made to mitigate or eliminate environmental impacts. An EIR should buttress enforcement of existing regulations that prevent the needless privatization of our public sidewalks.
That’s what’s good for the environment—and that is why we believe an EIR is necessary in this instance.
We understand that bringing innovation and new technology to our citizens is important in keeping up with the digital age, but it should not be at the expense of our limited and endangered open, public spaces and already congested sidewalks .
AT&T and their lobbyists have been working hard to push approval through quickly but the community urges the Board to do the right thing: have AT&T conduct an Environmental Review. Once the results are released, we can then determine whether or not this project is environmentally fit for our City.
The Sierra Club, San Francisco Beautiful (SFB), Walk San Francisco, along with a coalition of neighborhood organizations are holding a Day of Action with a press conference and rally on Monday, May 23 at Noon, City Hall steps, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place.
LIST OF SUPPORTERS OF THE EIR (partial list)
- Alamo Square Neighborhood Association
- Cole Valley Improvement Association
- Dogpatch Neighbors Association
- Dolores Heights Improvement Club
- Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association
- The Forest Hill Association
- Haight-Ashbury Improvement Association
- Lake Street Residents Association
- League of Pissed Off Voters
- Liberty Hill Neighborhood Association
- McKinley Square Community Association
- Mission Dolores Neighborhood Association
- Pacific Heights Residents Association
- Planning Association for the Richmond
- Potrero Boosters Neighborhood Association
- San Francisco Tomorrow
- Senior Action Network
- Sierra Club
- Telegraph Hill Dwellers
- Union Street Association
- Walk SF
The Hunger Site
May 24, 2011 at 9:19 am
Dear Editor:
Like many groups who have campaigned against AT&T’s plans for installing new utility cabinets, Ms. Rebecca Evans’ May 20 article gives absolutely no thought to San Franciscans who want – NO, THEY NEED – the proposed services.
What she and many like-minded others have neglected to mention is the lack of DSL service available to many San Francisco residents. Yes, shocking isn’t it. The so-called technology capital of the world has lots of neighborhoods without DSL broadband service. Yes, ignorance lives and breathes in our “progressive” city. I wonder how many supporters/members of the various groups represented by Ms. Evans do not have DSL broadband available at home. I’ll bet not many. The dreaded utility cabinets provide not only U-Verse TV but much more importantly WILL ALSO BRING DSL LINES TO NEIGHBORHOODS – like mine – with no DSL service.
So the question is, why should anyone care? Well, how about the fact that San Francisco has more people working from home than most major cities? Can we do our jobs without high-speed connectivity? I certainly can’t and I don’t doubt that this description would fit all other telecommuters. But aside from the telecommuting group, why should any San Francisco resident be denied reasonable Internet access? In 2011, how does anyone stay current without broadband? There are countries where Internet service is 100% broadband. It’s a travesty that any San Francisco resident is denied this.
For the past 7 years, my neighbors and I have been working to persuade AT&T to place equipment in our area which would enable DSL service. Now, when it looks as if we will finally have an alternative to Comcast, your groups are trying to prevent this installation. And for the record, my neighborhood is Ocean Beach where, within a 4 block radius, there are there are 400 condos, plus apartments and private homes with no DSL internet available. We have access only to dial-up or Comcast cable.
I have many more questions for you, Ms. Evans. If the members of your groups are so protective of our City, why aren’t they working to move homeless out of our neighborhoods? why are they not crusading to have our streets repaired? why are they not campaigning to get ubiquitous magazine/newspaper racks off the streets? what are you doing to remove the filth from our streets – where in my block, 3-4 big bags of trash are collected daily? why do they tolerate all of the unsightly MUNI lines overhead? and finally, WHY DO YOU OPPOSE ANY COMPETITION TO COMCAST?
Now, I am personally no AT&T fan but I’m very tired of being held hostage by Comcast. The AT&T project will provide all of us the opportunity to choose – to “bundle” or “cherry pick” landline, Internet, television and mobile phone services, saving us all money in the end.
Ms. Evans, you certainly don’t speak for me and/or any San Franciscan for whom you are attempting to deny “equal access.”
Dianne Drosnes
San Francisco
PS. The photo is of the AT&T utility boxes installed at 825 La Playa. The cabinet shown on the left has been there for 20 years or more. The cabinet on the right is the new equipment.
May 21, 2011 at 12:46 am
campers,
Worst thing about these boxes is that they’re old technology based on copper cable. Testimony at the Board hearing from Reggie Rucker and Alex Melendez of Monkeybrains.com noted that burying fiber optic cable in a 2″ wide trench 18″ deep would give the City a far more powerful network and not frig with the environment.
Giants win in 10 innings.
h.
May 20, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Then there should be an EIR for all of the SF Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, and real estate guide newsracks that are littering our sidewalks. They aggregate trash, spill paper, etc. They take up as much as, if not more than, these AT&T racks. And the newsracks take up a lot more space.