•    On February 10, 2010 the Santa Fe City Council is scheduled to adopt an ordinance that would deprive property owners of the right to oppose, appeal, or even be notified of proposals to install cell towers or WiFi antennas in front of their homes.

•    In order to circumvent citizen resistance to towers and antennas, telecommunication companies are approaching cities with “distributed antenna systems,” which are dense networks of antennas that are dispersed throughout a community instead of being confined to discrete locations. This is nothing more than a method for spreading scores of antennas so widely throughout the community all at once that it is no longer possible for the public to mount an opposition.

•    Santa Fe’s proposed ordinance compounds this problem by offering blanket franchises to these companies to install as many antennas as they wish wherever they deem fit, on any roads or sidewalks, without making them submit individual applications that citizens could oppose or appeal. Citizens have legitimate concerns about land use, aesthetics, property values, health and environment.