Residents Against AT&T Cell Tower At Sunnyvale Middle School

To whom it maybe concern 12-11-2010

The City of Sunnyvale, in cooperation with the Sunnyvale School District is working to allow the construction and operation of a cell phone tower on the Sunnyvale Middle School property. At best, minimal effort has been made to alert residents of the community and at worst a concerted effort is being made to keep this quiet. I believe this tower should not be allowed for the following reasons and if you agree please lend your support by signing the attached petition.

The proposal: A section of the Sunnyvale Middle School grounds (located at 1080 Mango Avenue) will be set aside for the installation cell phone tower. Initially this tower will be equipped with antennas transmitting 7500 Watts with a coverage area of between 0.3 and 0.5 miles. Typically towers will often co-host other carriers and over time this tower might see additional equipment from T-mobile, Verizon, or other carriers added. This tower is planned to be disguised as an artificial tree.

Why I believe construction of this tower is wrong at this time.

A. It is wrong to allow the commercialization of school grounds. The School and it's grounds are provided for the education and physical well being of our children.
B. The tower provides no necessary service. When questioned, AT&T failed to explain the need for this tower. They said that there have been no complaints of coverage in the area and indeed their online coverage map shows good to fair coverage throughout the region.
C. A safety perimeter is required in right field of the baseball diamond. A 10 foot tall perimeter fence is being planned to keep children away and it will be adorned with signs stating "Active antennas mounted on this structure, stay back". A warning which seems inappropriate for something located on a middle school playground.
D. No long term studies. Due to the recent wide scale deployment of cell phone towers there are no long term (40+ year) studies documenting their safety.

So in conclusion. This represents a misused of school grounds, creating a hazardous area on campus for which there exists no need. Even if there is only the slightest possibility of long term detrimental effects to our children why take the risk?

Thank you