Residents Oppose New Boulder Creek Cell Tower Proposal

So their "scenic residential community" (codephrase for gentrified $1/2 million dollar ticky tacky condos, see link) doesn't use a goodly amount cellie airtime while knocking little white balls around on the links? Where would a better location be? Away from your scenic residential community and golf course where the 'other people' live perhaps?

The same people who depend on and demand the technology for their lifestyle and income don't want to see the dirty dirty infrastructure that makes it tick... Tsk

Mr Ray typed: "The same people who depend on and demand the technology for their lifestyle and income don't want to see the dirty dirty infrastructure that makes it tick"

Mr Ray you have no factual evidence of this and your logic here mirrors the logic of high-profit capitalism.

This cell tower proposal is evidence of a faulty development process.

Was this process started by the people and residents of the community?

No, it was not.

The community of people who live there did not come together through a democratic process and decide they wanted a cell tower.

The proposal was started by the owner of the commercial property Boulder Creek Golf and Country Club and Verizon Wireless. One very large and powerful local business and one mega-corp.

This is how capitalism works. People are always excluded from the decision making processes, which are geared towards high business profits.

Mr Ray, The link you provided says the condos there are selling for $400k, which is well below the average home price in the San Lorenzo Valley and even more so in Santa Cruz County in general.

I imagine you have have no hard stats on who lives there and those condos are most definitely not luxury homes.

ROTF! I don't know ANYONE who has the bucks to front a 400K mortgage. I lived on Shadow Mountain Road off Hamon Gulch in the late 70s when it was still little more than an improved logging road and no one wanted to live in the houses in the hills because the gravel might chip their bimmer's paint and you might have to park somewhere and walk home in the winter months due to impassable road conditions... Now that people who think $400k is a below average price for a place to live are littering the mountains, they want to stop development of infrastructure.

I wish the development would have stopped before all the $400k-ers moved into the mountains with their NIMBY attitudes...

Where WOULD YOU like that tower? Somewhere the "little people"... "The Renter Class", live? Listen, to be functional, a cellphone antenna HAS TO BE on a hill. The frequencies cell phones operate at are "Line-of-Sight" to the extreme. The property on hills is VALUABLE (view) now that the roads are all paved, and you're simply going to have to compromise with the world of the 21st century, including things like cell towers and (gasp!) rental housing in your line-of-sight.

As far as 'faulty development process', This is Santa Cruz country, California, Earth. The whole plan for the county is "faulty"... I'd like some 'development process' for housing for people who actually work around Santa Cruz and would never in their lives be able to afford $400K, but I wouldn't expect you to support that. It might reduce your property's value.

Mr Ray, You brought up property values as some sort of index of justice here.

Simply stated, if you don't believe that the condos are a more affordable and communal type of housing to build than individual homes, I'm not sure what to tell you.

Do you think the owner(s) of the Country Club you are supporting here with your diatribe lives in one of those condos? Of course not.

All lots in Santa Cruz County with nothing at all built on them cost over $100k. There is no justice in terms of property value in most places in the United States. Private property values are an index of capitalism.

Mr Ray, you revealed your true intentions here when you automatically sided with the Country Club and Verizon.

You have an uneducated view here. You assume the location these big businesses have arbitrarily chosen is the best one and that the technology is the best. You, without any research, assume a cell tower is needed in the location. You assume that the expansion and installation of cell towers must occur everywhere. You assume the tower has to be 78 feet here, when they are half that size everywhere else. You advocate for every natural area being developed and turned into an industrial zone.

The options businesses choose is always the best for them and their profits.

This cell tower is most likely intended for tourists who freak out about losing their cell coverage on their way to Big Basin and on their way to go golf at the Country Club.

I haven't heard from any residents of the community who are for the tower in that location. If so, I would like to hear some REAL reasons to justify the location. Not speculation by armchair typists.

I know that RR refers to a business owner in downtown Santa Cruz as his 'friend' so I'm not sure what he is talking about when he says he doesn't know anyone who has the funds for a $400k mortage.

The Environment Counts.

That the land is 'private property' is no excuse to pollute the environment.

You don't have to be wealthy to ride the public bus up Highway 236 and be saddened by the presence of a giant, radiation emitting cell phone tower in the middle of a beautiful, open, spacious area in the middle of the mountains. A giant tower will further degrade the natural beauty of that area, that was first degraded by the construction of homes, and then later degraded by the construction of the golf course, the tennis courts, and the restaurant and country club.

People in La Selva Beach are raising money to pay for the appeal of the County Planning Commission’s decision to approve a 48-foot Verizon cell tower within sight of their neighborhood, citing its proximity to habitat of the endangered Santa Cruz long-toed salamander.

Their fundraising page is here:
https://www.crowdrise.com/laselvabeachagainstt

There is more info in the Sentinel article:

Cell tower appealed on salamander grounds
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20160102/cell-tower-appealed-on-salamander-grounds

'Although residents primarily object to the visual impact of the project, which will be located on edge of an agricultural field at 105 Alta Drive, their appeal will be based on its proximity to the Ellicott Slough National Wildlife Refuge.'

"I know that RR refers to a business owner in downtown Santa Cruz as his 'friend' so I'm not sure what he is talking about when he says he doesn't know anyone who has the funds for a $400k mortage."

He lives in a leased RV and we used to be roomies in a three way (sometimes four) split on a West Side rental. No. He can't afford a mortgage of any kind AT ALL so just fuck off troll Your ignorant speculation bores me.

FYI, if you ever actually go downtown "slugger" (which I seriously doubt) watch how many stores go out of business this spring because rain kept people from coming downtown during the holiday shopping season. The AVERAGE retail business owner here just barely keeps their head above the waves of Red Ink washing around them. It's the PROPERTY OWNERS who make the money. You know... The people, including the UC regents, who have their dicks up the city council's ass like puppets on a fleshy stick.

Ps. The owner of the property my 'business friend' leases changed the terms on him a few months ago despite the terms of the lease he signed. He's probably going to go out of business soon because he can't 'out-lawyer' them. He can barely afford to pay his lease as it is. THAT'S why all the artisans left years ago, and all you have for sale downtown is, as one person who hadn't been here for a couple of decades put it "Pier One Crap".

I think it's a little bizarre that all these people with smartphones don't want reliable cell service, or perhaps, as Razer Ray suggested, they just don't want it in THEIR back yard, they want it in some WORKING CLASS RENTER'S back yard.

RR shows his true colors. He's buddies with a business owner in downtown Santa Cruz. I'm sure he's not the only wealthy person RR is friends with. RR cherry-picks the businesses he supports. I imagine he thinks the Boulder Creek country club is a small business also?

And what were your buddy's goals when he opened the business downtown, RR?

To succeed he would be selling a million products and feeding the system, and paying a buttload in rent to the assholes who run Santa Cruz. And if he planned to fail, well, what a pawn he was for those wealthy landlords.

Either way your buddy as a business owner openly participates in the system of gentrification downtown, and I'm sure the rent he pays for his downtown 'dream' is more than the mortgage payments anyone up in those Boulder Creek condos make each month.

RR, too bad you didn't warn your buddy about the business climate downtown. I guess you place your focus on trolling posts like this one and pretending that the people who live near a golf course are the enemies.

RR likes wi-fi because it is a 'free' service provided by business owners and corporations, and he personally benefits from it.

RR is 100% fine with the environment being hurt as long as he gets his wi-fi.

He even objects to the democratic process if it interferes with his wi-fi.

Verizon has his 100% endorsement.

Verizon probably knows what's best for everyone, right?

"I think it's a little bizarre that all these people with smartphones don't want reliable cell service, or perhaps, as Razer Ray suggested, they just don't want it in THEIR back yard, they want it in some WORKING CLASS RENTER'S back yard."

We are talking about Boulder Creek, Culture Warrior.

Can you tell us what "WORKING CLASS RENTER'S back yard" the cell tower would go into if they decide to put it somewhere else?

RR made that gentrification of Boulder Creek stuff up because it suited his 'troll of the day'.

There isn't any "WORKING CLASS RENTER'S back yard" that will be put in jeopardy in Boulder Creek from changing the location of the installation of this cell tower.


BTW, "Culture Warrior" is a Fox-News term. I'm sure you knew that.

No one has a 78 foot cell tower in the middle of their neighborhood.

I can't think of one other cell tower that has been built in Santa Cruz County in a location like the one this proposal outlines.

Cell towers tend to be 20-30 feet in height. There is one on Mission Street next to CVS that stands out slightly, but it sure isn't 78 feet tall.

There's no open space anywhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains that has a giant tower in the middle of it.

I am one of the folks who signed the petition to not allow this to take place, I appreciate & read your comment. It is funny when it is not in your back yard, why should it this bother you ? I have been in this situation before and it always seems to benefit a few people. And the person (No Name will be mentioned) should have the tower place in front of his home so he can enjoy cell tower view, I am sure he would not like it either. Radiation is a concern, are you saying more is Radiation is better. Boulder Creek is known to be GREEN and I and other would like to keep it that way. I do not have nor had any problems with my cell and as other have said the same. I live on this property and My community Is coming together as a community to get the word out that we are against having this cell tower.

Jan 9, 2016 — We have gotten word that the hearing scheduled for Friday 1/15 has been cancelled. We have not been given a reason, but a new hearing is going to be scheduled. When we find out the new date and time we will post it ASAP.