Well…my fears were confirmed. On April 7th, 2020 Sacramento City Council held an online City Council meeting to approve the updated telecommunications ordinance and move forward with 4G and 5G small cell installations in Sacramento.
After the February 4th meeting , I fully expected this to be the outcome. However, I would not have guessed that the decision would be made without giving the public another opportunity to be heard on the issue. The meeting was held without the public being able to attend. Apparently some comments had been submitted online but those comments were NOT read into the public record prior to the item being voted on. In the video, at 1:00:30, Mayor Steinberg acknowledges that he had NOT read the public comments before Council voted on the issue. This shows that the council had already made up their mind on the issue and input from the public was literally meaningless despite us fighting this issue for over a year. It is also likely a violation of the Brown Act.
I personally was unaware that City Council meetings were still taking place or of my opportunity to participate on this agenda item. I am quite sure City Council knows where I stand on the issue, but I think it is incredibly insulting and down right slimy for Council to take action on such a contentious issue without proper engagement from the public.
I wrote an email to council expressing my disgust with their decision to move forward with 5G deployment during this already chaotic time. I mention the increase in number of people linking 5G to coronavirus in the past weeks. This has resulted in a number of attacks on cell antennas, particularly in the U.K.
With all the fear and conspiracy theories floating around about 5G and coronavirus, transparency in government actions regarding these topics is more important than ever. Sacramento City’s decision to move forward with their 5G roll-out in a stealthy manner without public engagement was irresponsible and lends credibility to the argument of those claiming that this pandemic is being used fast track 5G deployment.
