Page 7 - Sonoma County Gazette 12-2019

OPINION: Sebastopol Defends Seniors against PG&E Smart Meters
ByMarilyn Madrone
An overwhelming majority of residents from Fircrest Mobile Home Park
in Sebastopol have signed a petition asking the City of Sebastopol to help them stand up to PG&E to avoid the installation of “smart meters” in their senior community. PG&E has been working in the mobile home park since July replacing utility lines in order to switch all homes from sub-metered analogs to smart meters.
In support of Fircrest residents’ petition, the City of Sebastopol sent a letter on September 23, 2019, to the management corporation for the park with a copy to PG&E. The Council concluded in their letter that the PG&E meter replacement would result in requiring the park’s residents to meet an unanticipated fee in order to “opt-out” of smart meter installation that they did not request. The
City requested that the
Management Corporation
either reimburse residents
for these opt-out fees or
work with PG&E to install
analog instead of smart
meters. The letter also
pointed out that Fircrest
Park’s residents can be
considered “Captive” in
the mobile home park by
reason of their dual status
as both homeowners and
tenants which the City
maintains is both unfair
and possibly a violation
of the protections of the
California Mobile Home
Residency Law.
There are many
SMART Meters alter gardens from this ... to this
reasons the 81 residents of Fircrest Mobile Home Park who signed the petition (from 68 out of 87 total households) oppose the installation of smart meters. Many believe that the placement of smart meters in front of their personal dwelling creates an eyesore negatively affecting its aesthetics and significantly decreasing the value of their mobile home.
As park residents have learned more about the fact that smart meters emit pulsed microwave radiation 24/7 very near to their bedrooms and living quarters, they have expressed a growing concern about the negative health and safety impacts of these devices. The fact that Fircrest Mobile Home Park
is a high-density senior residence (many homes separated by less than 10
feet) adds to the concern about the cumulative effect of so many microwave emitting devices in such a small area. Many peer-reviewed scientific studies have indicated that exposure to the levels of microwave radiation generated by smart meters is associated with increased health problems such as Parkinson’s, insomnia, cancer, neurological and immunological diseases. Other research has shown that electrical rates have gone up immediately after smart meter installation. Smart meter malfunction has also been implicated as a possible cause of fires of unknown origin.
PG&E denies these problems, but in 2013 the City of Sebastopol was concerned enough by these issues to place a temporary moratorium on smart meter installations. Sebastopol’s General Plan includes protective electromagnetic field (EMF) policies; for example, Community Health and Wellness Policy 4-2 includes wording to “minimize unsafe EMF radiation levels near sensitive areas such as schools, hospitals, playgrounds, high- density residential, and libraries when planning for electrical transmission facilities repair and new construction.”
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