About 15 neighbors and concerned citizens showed up for this Sunday's demonstration. There were positive vibes all around as we chatted about the week's events: the gathering of "Declaration Signatures," signing a letter to the church board, the presidential debates, and even what's cooking for this Monday's meeting. Channel 3 News was at hand to take video of our demonstration and interview me for tonight's news. (8:30
following football)
7 comments:
I respect your concerns but find it quite distastefull that you would impinge the integrity of this church and their commitment to the community and children. Have you been inside? Have you been treated with respect even though there is disagreement? Have you investigated the commitment they have to the community for over 50 years. They turned an unsightly fill lot into a beautiful church which increased property values all around. You could have had a 7-11 convienience store on that lot, etc. These people bring positive values into the community, help children, pay their own way, etc. ...why tear them down? If you're going to picket every Sunday you should at least sit quietly through their services. Who knows...you might find more middle ground than you think.
That would be great except that they have not even answered our phone calls, refused to have a dialog with us, come out to talk to us or invited us in.
We are not trying to tear down their church...just the underhanded way they and the city treated the neighborhood citizens in getting this tower put up. We were blindsided!!!
We understand the church needs funds to keep going but there are many alternatives to funding.
We will not sit idly by!
We live here...they just visit the neighborhood once or twice a week!
Mac,
Excuse me? Tear THEM down?
We awoke one day to find our property values will drop by 20%!
They-(Verizon) will be allowed to put ANY sort of radiation-emmitting device on the tower they see fit!
They were caught red-handed trying this a mile south- and were shut down, because the community knew about it.
THIS time- they quietly shoved it past the Eureka City Council-
Yes, Mac. Ive been inside.
We have tried repeatedly to talk with the pastor about this, and have gotten NO ANSWER!
So we had to take the next step- including spending $5000 ON A LAWYER. Do you think any of us can afford this?
WE CARE ABOUT THE HEALTH OF OUR KIDS!
Right now sir, it appears that this church with the 'commitment to the community' is FAR MORE commited to Verizon, a needless, pointless, and dangerous cell tower,
than they are to they're own neighbours!
As another poster noted, WE LIVE here! 24/7.
They dont.
Could it be that they have backed away because there is no middle ground for many on this issue? I suspect their intentions were not "underhanded" as you suggest but that they felt the city notice would take care of things. From what I read...it is the city who has dropped that ball. To say the church has been underhanded is just not accurate. Why are you not picketing there or at a verizon store? (I presume no one picketing actually uses cell phones from Veriozon) No one suggests you should sit by idly but you direct your frustration at the easiest target rather than the best target. You also assume no one from the church lives in the neighborhood. It's always NIMBY.
Excuse me sir, you might want to learn the facts before calling us names. Do you think we can really quit our jobs and leave our homes to go to San Francisco?
WHY do you assume we are attacking the church? We Called. We e-mailed. We petitioned.
Perhaps you do not realize the church will MAKE 100K a YEAR from this?
While the rest of us LOSE????
And no. I dont believe anyone in this group has a Verizon cell phone. And that IS NOT the issue. DONT you get that??
There is NO 'DEAD' area forcing the need for this. (Verizon simply wont 'share' the tower with other companies.
They want to let this neighborhood become a ghetto, pure and simple!
Call NIMBY if you want. Fine.
I hereby call YOU on that!
May Verizon put this up in YOUR
BACKYARD?
Let us know......
Patsy,
Of course I don't think you can quit and go to SF and I sincerly apologize if you thought I was calling anyone names. That was and is certainly not my intention. I only intended to try to bring another perspective to the discussion.
My perception of you "attacking" the church was based upon the content of several of the signs used in the picket which may have been an incorrect perception. Also...all CAPS that you care about children (apparently implying that the church doesn't) gave the conversation a somewhat adversarial taste. I'm really sorry if I misunderstood your intention there.
Speaking of checking facts...$100K a year is not even a realistic guess at what a cell carrier will pay for such a tower particularly in the Eureka market. Try about a tenth of that. Even in cities like SF I've heard the best sites only pay maybe $25K anually.
I have lived in the close vacinity to a church cell tower while living in a different city (with children I might add). So I guess...yes I have had one in my back yard. Neighbors appreciated what the church did for the community in that location and it seemed a lot less adversarial. I was only trying to bring that kind of perspective to the dialogue and not intentionally trying to be incendiary in my post. I truly hope that some sort of solution can be found which will help support the church, keep peace with the neighbors, and heal any pain which has been felt by those involved on either side of this emotional issue.
Mac- Appreciate your calm tone- and I apologize for sounding so angry, but we are. Henderson center- once friendly and quiet, has been filling up with gang-bangers, noise, and crime for the last few years, and this was the final straw.
You must understand that we were truly 'shafted' here, yes, by Verizon, and not the church itself.
But needless to say, any communication with Verizon has been non-existent. They can 'pass-the-buck' like you would not believe!
So we tried the church. As explained, they also have been less than forthcoming.
(The amount they will receive was a guess based on stories elsewhere, but even if they got nothing, this is still wrong.)
We simply were not told!- (4 out of 70 residents say they got a letter- AFTER the city council meeting!..FOUR.)
Then we learned that our health and the value of our properties was at risk- and we, as a neighborhood, had meetings to decide what to do.
We dont ENJOY protesting in front of a church!
But we have been left with no choice.
I hope you can understand that.
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