The San Diego Planning Commission Hearing

Here is web page that shows chronological history of the the Tower Ordinance issue in San Diego - URL: http://sddxc.org/tower/

Please forward to any ham or interested party you know within driving distance of San Diego.

Their presence at the February 25 meeting is critical.

The San Diego Planning Commission is holding hearings about a proposed ordinance that will effectively ban Amateur radio antennas in San Diego.

If passed, the proposed ordinance will force individual radio and electronics experimenters to spend upwards of $10,000 or more to obtain a tower permit, restrict heights to 30’ and essentially make the possibility of medium/long range radio frequency communications unlikely.  Time after time, this unique capability has been demonstrably essential during the stages of any significant disaster event which damages hard-wired communications and/or computer systems. 

Any agency which is assigned the responsibilty of planning needs to have a grasp of what is is to plan, or prepare, for unforeseen circumstances or events.  The San Diego Planning commission has yet to face this reality, and I fear the individuals who staff the commission have demonstrated a disregard for the impact their proposal will create.

The Amateur Radio Relay League and the San Diego DX (long-distance radio) Club have hired lawyers and professional lobbyists to fight this disastrous ordinance but they need all the help they can get to protect Public Safety.

Also, the way the ordinance is written, if an operator already has a tower in place and decides to modify the antennas, which hams regularly do, he will in violation of the ordinance and can be made to apply for a costly permit!

You might say, "I don't live in city of San Diego, or, I do not have an Amateur radio license, so why should I care?"

If this ordinance passes, it will set a legal precedent, and other California cities could model new ordinances based on the San Diego ordinance. The Amateur Radio Service is active in assisting neighborhood, city, county, state, and federal, and international agencies expedite emergency communications requirements as specified by Congressional mandate. The proposed ILLEGAL ordinance changes would ultimately create a deleterious effect on the ability of individuals and communities to evacuate or respond to situations which pose an emergency/threat in real time.

Let's not let this issue get to go into court as that will then cost hams and taxpayers a bundle of money to fight the city of San Diego even though the proposed antenna and permit rules are arguably illegitimate and counterproductive.

(Remember - in the U.S. legal system - you are innocent until proven broke!  Here in Mexico, you are guilty until proven broke. The difference between the two systems is that the U.S. system takes longer to drain the money out of your wallet. The Mexican "system" sometimes extorts your money before you have a chance to go to court.)

Even though the city of San Diego IS BROKE, they intend to continue to waste future taxpayer funds!

It is perplexing as to why the individuals who have proposed this fiasco have not found the time in their lives to accomplish useful work.

Of course, there are measures that can be taken to prevent the obstruction of ocean views, and similar issues which are rightly everyone's concern.

STOP SAN DIEGO’S ILL-ADVISED BAN ON THE FCC AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE - ATTEND THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING

Thursday Feb 25, 2010 9:00AM

Council Chambers, 12th Floor, City Administration Building, 202 C Street, San Diego, CA

Like we did in 1994, if enough support shows up at the meeting we stand a good chance to stop this disastrous ordinance.