NextG, the company that installs Distributed Antenna Systems (or DAS) for big telecos, is in hot water again. This time there’s a backlash in the Richmond District of San Francisco, according to RichmondSF - a reputable neighborhood blog.
The residents of 27th Avenue are upset about boxes they say are ugly and noisy and installed without notification, sometimes in the dead of night. They’ve appealed to the San Francisco Planning Commission and have even stopped NextG from completing their installations.
The residents want the permits revoked and the boxes removed. The appeal will be heard on March 16.
If news reports are any indication, NextG has a reputation that precedes them. The City of Hampstead, NY, lost their case against NextG. After a year-long negotiation with the Massapequa, Long Island, village board NextG finally agreed to install a smaller, slimmed down version of the wireless antenna.
Their behavior infuriated Santa Barbara residents, leading one Santa Barbara supervisor to blast the process as
Homeowners also told RichmondSF that installation sometimes took place in the dead of night. RichmondSF also took a look at the installation quality and said ”
“The lack of public notice and lack of community input into the process is outrageous,” Mar said. “We need stronger protections, not only [to] raise issue of safety, but also aesthetics and whether these boxes on utility poles are necessary and desirable
“Since 2008, the city of San Francisco has approved 342 wireless permits (interactive map), many of them by one DPW employee…” states RichmondSF. “In 2010 he alone approved 152 permits. Since September 2010, 28 have been approved just for locations in the Richmond District.”
Such ????? begs the questions about friends in high places at San Francisco DPW and also brings up questions about an ethics hearing.
The boxes and noisy and ugly
Since the equipment was so large, it required two poles to house it. So another permit was approved for a location across the street at 161 27th Avenue; that homeowner was also not notified. “There was no outreach,” Cooper said.
The City of San Francisco, and one DPW employee in particular, has issued hundreds of permits - with no notification to homeowners. In some cases, it appears that
The NextG wireless antennas are being installed all over the city. .
