The key organizing principle
for TeleCommUnity is a Local Government Communications Bill
of Rights – a common set of principles that federal policymakers
should respect in any telecommunications legislation or regulatory
ruling.
This document, which will be shaped and revised by the TeleCommUnity
board of advisors, will help policymakers, the public and the media
understand concerns raised by local officials. The ten elements
of the Communications Bill of Rights are:
Local communities have the right to
locally control land use and zoning.
Telecommunications infrastructure is necessary but burdensome.
Local governments must exercise affirmative control over siting
the new devices in public areas and on private property. No
citizen should experience a decline in property values, an increase
in safety risks or a deterioration in urban quality of life
unnecessarily. Local governments must have the tools and authority
to manage the transition and installation of these new infrastructures.
Local governments want the new services and the enhanced economic
activity they bring. The federal government must trust local
elected officials as the best decisionmakers to balance conflicting
community interests.
Local communities have
the right to manage street cuts and construction in public rights-of-way
and to regulate construction in all utility easements.
Too many communities have been seriously damaged by fly-by-night
construction of new telecommunications systems. Floods, gas
line explosions, cut communications lines, auto accidents and
pedestrian injuries are prevalent. Local governments must act
to guarantee the safety of their communities and hold individual
companies fully responsible for the harm they cause.
Three thousand commuters caught in a three-hour traffic jam
by uncoordinated street trenching is a heavy price to pay. Only
local governments can get this problem under control. And the
federal government must support local elected officials who
act aggressively.
Local communities have
the right to modernize governmental services and should be encouraged
to use in-kind, as well as financial, rent payments to better
serve their citizens.
A major benefit of the new technologies will be improved government
services at less cost to the taxpayer. Modern, broadband communications
networks promise the opportunity for local governments to do
more with less.
Local governments have a right to expect privileged users of
public property – that is, telecommunications companies
using public roads and rights-of-way – to pay fair rent
to the taxpayer for the public resource. Portions of this rent
may be in the form of facilities and services that will help
local governments better serve the taxpayers that paid for and
built the roads.
Local communities have
the right to protect local taxpayers from unwilling subsidization
of private telecommunications companies and their construction
projects.
The common problem of multiple trenching of streets and roads
must stop. Local governments should charge reasonable prices
for the use of streets by telecommunications company to discourage
overuse and inappropriate installations.
Fair prices are necessary in any marketplace to avoid waste
and overuse. Local rights-of-way are precious and scarce public
resources. Fair prices will assure they are used as necessary
and desired.
Local communities have
the right to prevent injury to innocent third parties affected
by communications construction projects and to require compensation
for citizens injured or disturbed by communications construction
projects.
California has licensed more than 900 new telephone companies
in the last four years. Only those that are willing to act in
the best interest of the taxpaying public should be allowed
to construct in the public’s streets and highways.
Companies must prove financial capability, engineering expertise
and adequate insurance to protect innocent third persons that
may be damaged by construction projects. Every project is unique
and warrants special review to assure remedies are available
if things go wrong. The problems and risks of building in downtown
Dearborn are different than residential areas of Tucson. The
local officials must set and enforce the appropriate standards.
Local communities have
the right to use local government authority to expand economic
development and protect consumers' interests.
For 65 years, the federal government has required broadcasters,
telephone companies and cable operators to operate in the public
interest. It is time to redefine the public interest in the
era of communications competition and deregulation. Today, communications
companies using wires and radio frequencies should address the
local needs and interests of the communities they serve. Only
local officials can define these in each community and negotiate
the best manner for the companies to address these needs and
interests.
Local officials know what the community needs: jobs, economic
development, improving quality of life, adequate education and
governmental services and infrastructures. Communications companies
are privileged beneficiaries of federal and local government
property. They should be expected to address local community
needs and interests.
Local communities have
the right to attempt to build an adequate tax base that remains
stable and growing in tandem with the larger economy.
The convergence of technologies and the availability of similar
communications services from different providers forces a major
overhaul in local and state taxes. Traditional utility user
excise taxes and utility property taxes do not work if they
apply to only one or two of the competitors. Yet every competitor
uses and needs governmental services.
Competitively neutral systems of sales, property and income
taxes must be developed to allow competition to flourish. These
new tax structures must respect the needs of local governments
for adequate revenues to provide needed public services.
Local communities have
the right to provide their schools with state-of-the-art technology.
Citizens must be able to use the new communications tools. Schools
must teach the use of these tools. Every student deserves an
equal opportunity to experience and learn the new ways of communicating.
Local communities have
the right to federal protection of local public safety communications
spectrum from interference created by commercial uses of federally-auctioned
wireless spectrum.
The auction of the 800 MHz spectrum for commercial uses has
created interference problems within the portion of the 800
MHz spectrum currently by local public safety officials to provide
vital communications between police, fire, emergency rescue
and other public safety entities. These interference issues
have not adequately been remedied by the Federal Communications
Commission, and the upcoming auction of the 700 MHz spectrum
is likely to create the same interference issues.
The interference issues could be overcome if commercial spectrum
users were required to trap interference-causing emissions as
a condition of receiving a commercial spectrum license. Without
stricter commercial use emission requirements, public safety
officials must swap spectrum, alter public safety tower and/or
antenna heights, or purchase new equipment.
The purchase of new equipment – necessary to overcome the
interference issues directly created by the federal auction
of wireless spectrum – is an onerous burden that local
governments should not have to shoulder. The FCC can and should
require that commercial spectrum users prevent interference
with public safety spectrum use as a condition of receiving
a commercial license.
Compared to the billions generated by the spectrum auction,
the aggregate cost of new equipment for local public safety
officials is negligible. The health and safety of every American
must be protected. Public safety officials must have secure
means of wireless communications. The federal government should
consider returning a small share of the spectrum auction money
to local public safety officials to ensure that local governments
have the means to protect the health, welfare, and public safety
of their citizens.
Local communities have
the right to require operators to close – not widen –
the Digital Divide. Broadband must reach all our citizens.
Television is more than entertainment. Telephone is more than
voice conversation. The convergence of digital transmission
with fiber optic capabilities and powerful small computers is
transforming the way Americans work, play and live in our communities.
No citizen should be left out.
The Digital Divide is a lack of infrastructure, a lack of money
and a lack of education. Each of these problems can and must
be solved through a combination of efforts. Communications companies
must wire all neighborhoods and business districts with modern
infrastructure. Schools and public locations must open their
doors to all citizens. And community-based organizations must
reach out and teach people how to use the new ways of communicating.
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