The Stepford Board has done it again. This time they decided to hire an attorney to negotiate a contract with NextG, the wireless company seeking to install antennas in various locations throughout the Town. NextG, recently acquired by Crown Castle International Corporation, has a history of suing municipalities whenever they have been refused access to the locations they wish to utilize for their antennas.
The Town’s legal department is rarely utilized for legal purposes. Their greatest challenge is to have Town Attorney Tim Lewis keep The Paul from saying or doing something that will get the Town in hot water. Obviously, he’s not doing this very well when we examine the amount of guilty verdicts from lawsuits the Town has lost during The Paul’s administration.
The Town is moving forward to hire Andrew Rau, a Pennsylvania attorney whose specialty is zoning and land-use law. He will lead Greenburgh's negotiations with Crown Castle International Corp., the company seeking to place wireless antennas on top of 20 utility poles in Greenburgh. We’ve posted before some of the concerns with this plan (http://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2011/12/cell-tower-radiation-in-town.html). It’s difficult to comprehend with all the attorney’s residing and/or working in the Town, even the tri-state area, why choose an attorney from Pennsylvania to represent us? Why maintain and fund a legal department that is apparently unable to represent us at every juncture, especially when we must go to court? In fact, given The Paul’s rampant illegal actions, why not disband the legal department and absolve the Town of any legal responsibilities from The Paul’s comments and actions?
Attorney Rau will be paid $350 per hour. His total compensation will be capped at $25,000. But as pseudo-attorney Francis “The Pocket” Sheehan has stated, the Board can authorize him more money if necessary. No surprise there. If he’s a specialist for these types of cases, he should be cloning the information from similar cases and be able to phone this in. ABG doesn’t believe the Town should pay any more than the $25k. If they do, what will the new cap be? Remember, this is Greenburgh - anything goes!
The Paul has stated, “We are concerned about aesthetics and believe that local governments should have the right to regulate the locations of these cell sites,” Really? Most of the residents speaking against these installations spoke of their safety concerns and not aesthetics. The Paul apparently heard nothing they said and continues to show just how out of touch he is with the communities.
It has repeatedly been stated that the Town provides locations throughout the Town for antenna installations. NextG claimed they did not have access to these locations. Undaunted, NextG's attorney, Mark Weingarten, claimed the company was entitled to proceed after this lengthy application process and threatened legal action if the application was delayed further. No surprise here - its their business model.
The town's Antenna Review Board signed off on NextG’s plan after the company said it did not have access to these right-of-way properties in Greenburgh’s non-residential areas. The review board later refuted this. While NextG doesn’t have access to these locations, Crown Castle does. The premise for Crown Castle’s case is that as the parent company maintaining access, that access should automatically apply for their newest acquisition, NextG. Not being attorney’s, ABG believes the original applicant, at the time of the original application, is what should stand, regardless of the application.
Many have suggested the Town’s Antenna Review Board should have the last word. With The Paul and the Stepford Board hiring an attorney to negotiate for them, they’ve already admitted defeat! ABG believes several things need to happen. First, the Antenna Review Board needs to grow a set, stand by their decision or disband. Second, the Town Legal Department needs to clean house and hire attorney’s that will actually represent the Town. Third, NextG/Crown Castle needs to follow the Town’s procedures. Fourth, we shouldn’t be hiring attorneys to represent us from Pennsylvania. The Paul and his Stepford Board have to go. We can only hope.
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one difficulty is that federal law (brought to you by the telecommunications lobby) prohibits rejecting these installations on safety grounds.
ReplyDeleteas for the attorney chosen, he appears to be well qualified. its really silly to object to the state he comes from. if you needed a great surgeon and his office was florida, you would be on the next plane. the real problem is the defects in the town law that allowed for loopholes - once again paul not paying attention to greenburgh matters but other things like abolishing county government.
Although the author makes a valid, albeit minor point, about using local attorneys, isn't NYC the capital of litigation? Surely there must be a land usage attorney somewhere in the metropolitan area that would be able to kick some a**, especially if you want to win a case! Mr. Feiner probably promised NextG approval and is doing this to ensure deliverability. Great site and thanks for being a watchdog for the rest of us!
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