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WINSTED — If you drove by Town Hall last Friday and saw a small group of protesters flying the Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me� flag and espousing anti-tax slogans, you would have been right in assuming that it was Winsted’s own tea party, organized by the Winchester Taxpayers Association (WTA).
While WTA members share many of the beliefs of the national Tea Party movement, the group’s president, David LaPointe, said told The Journal last week that the Winsted tea parties are more concerned with the Winchester town budget and the WTA’s mission to oppose any tax increases.
“This is the second tea party for Winsted,� LaPointe said. “The Winchester Taxpayers Association did a tea party in 2003, before it was vogue, in the tradition of the Boston Tea Party.�
Yes, Winsted residents were bringing tea bags to tax protests long before the current national movement. And their message has remained unchanged.
“We believe that taxes are high enough in the town,� LaPointe said. “The unemployment rate is higher than ever, and there are more foreclosures than ever before. We do not see the light at the end of the tunnel.�
Though the Board of Selectmen cut $1.5 million from the proposed school budget last week, members of the WTA have found common ground with local Republicans this year by calling for a zero increase in school funding. Republican Selectmen Kenneth Fracasso and Glenn Albanesius, along with Democrat George Closson, voted against a final proposed school budget of $21.3 million, saying they thought a $300,000 increase still left in the budget was too generous.
LaPointe and the WTA are calling for a zero tax increase this year, which would keep Winsted’s budget flat for a third straight year. Recent years have seen multiple referendums in which residents have rejected budget increases.
LaPointe notes that he is a public employee, working as a corrections officer for the state, and that he does not believe he or any other public employee should be getting a raise this year. But raises are negotiated by unions, and union rules do not allow employees to reject raises.
“Right now I have a job, but the majority of the people are not working,� LaPointe contended. “They’re either on social programs or unemployment. We shouldn’t impose more taxes on people to support people who are already making enough money. Public employees should be thankful. Do we need more raises? No. We need to have our government work more efficiently and effectively.�
While local issues are the main focus of the Winchester Taxpayers Association, the “tea party� title has national connotations, particularly as a recent Harris poll suggested 67 percent of Republicans believe President Barack Obama is a socialist, 45 percent believe he wasn’t born in the United States and 24 percent believe he “may be the Antichrist.�
Asked whether he believes the president is a socialist, LaPointe replied, “Yes.� Asked if he thinks Obama is the Antichrist, he replied, “I should hope not. You’ll have to ask him.�
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Telecom Reg’s Best Kept On the Books
When Connecticut land-use commissions update their regulations, it seems like a no-brainer to jettison old telecommunications regulations adopted decades ago during a short-lived period when municipalities had authority to regulate second generation (2G) transmissions prior to the Connecticut Siting Council (CSC) being ordered by a state court in 2000 to regulate all cell tower infrastructure as “functionally equivalent” services.
It is far better to update those regs instead, especially for macro-towers given new technologies like small cells. Even though only ‘advisory’ to the CSC, the preferences of towns by law must be taken into consideration in CSC decision making. Detailed telecom regs – not just a general wish list -- are evidence that a town has put considerable thought into where they prefer such infrastructure be sited without prohibiting service that many – though not all – citizens want and that first responders rely on for public safety.
Such regs come in handy when egregious tower sites are proposed in sensitive areas, typically on private land. The regs are a town’s first line of defense, especially when cross referenced to plans of conservation and development, P&Z regulations, and wetlands setbacks. They identify how/where the town plans to intersect with the CSC process. They are also a roadmap for service providers regarding preferred sites and sometimes less neighborhood contention. In fact, to have no telecom regs can weaken a town’s rights to protect environmental, scenic, and historic assets, and serve up whole neighborhoods to unnecessary overlapping coverage and corporate overreach. Such regs are unique to every town and should not follow anyone else’s boiler plate, especially industry’s.
Connecticut is the only state that has a centralized siting entity for cell towers. The good news is that applicants must prove need for new tower sites in an evidentiary proceeding and any decisions have the weight of the state behind them. The bad news is that the CSC used to be far less industry-friendly and rote in their reviews, which now resemble a check list. There is an operative assumption at CSC that if an applicant wants a tower, they must need it, otherwise why spend significant money to run the approval gauntlet? This reflects a subtle shift over the years at CSC from sincere willingness to protect the environment toward minimal tweaking of bad applications with minor changes. The bottom line is that towns really cannot rely on the CSC to do all the work for them.
What CSC issues telecom providers is a “certificate of environmental compatibility” after an evidentiary proceeding (not unlike a court case) with intervenors, parties, expert witnesses, and the service provider’s technical pro’s sworn in and subject to cross examination. Service providers get to do the same with any opposition from intervenor/party participants – like towns and citizens -- and their experts. It’s an impressive process whose ultimate goal is the fine balancing between allowing adequate/reliable public services and protecting state ecology with minimal damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values. They unfortunately often fall short of their mandate – like approving cell towers with diesel generators over town aquifers -- evidenced by CSC only rejecting about five cell towers in the past 15-20 years.
The CSC was founded in 1972 and clarified its mission in the 1980’s to prevent the state from being carved up willy-nilly by gas pipelines, high tension corridors, and broadcast towers. With the sudden proliferation of cell towers beginning in late 1990’s, it became the most sued agency in Connecticut by both an arrogant upstart industry if applications were denied and by towns/citizens when bad sites were forced on them. CSC gradually formed a defensive posture that drives their decisions toward industry with deeper pockets and attorneys on retainer.
For citizens, nothing can wreck one’s day like the CSC. It behooves towns to protect what little toolkit they have, and understand the legal parameters of the CSC’s playing field. The CSC is not a “normal” government agency where municipal/citizen redress is based on logic and local support. Their process is largely immune to everything but specific kinds of evidence – like town regs with setbacks/fall zones, radio frequency transmission signal strengths, sensitive areas identified, and detailed wildlife inventory, among others.
There is a current cell tower fight involving two intervening towns -- Washington and Warren; both with good cell tower regs – over a tower site within 1200’ of a Montessori School, near Steep Rock’s nature preserves with comprehensive geology/wildlife databases that include endangered, threatened and special concern flora and fauna, on established federal/state migratory bird flyways, within throwing distance to a historic site capable of being listed on the Underground Railroad, and with an access road on a blind curve entering a state highway that will permanently damage wetlands, vernal pools, and core forests. There are well credentialed environmental experts, including Dr. Michael Klemens, former chair of Salisbury’s P&Z, as well as the former director of migratory bird management at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and an RF engineer testifying to alternative approaches, plus three attorneys representing intervenors. It is the most professional challenge I have seen at CSC since Falls Village successfully mounted one that protected Robbins Swamps several years ago.
The hearing is ongoing, with uncertain results. To see what it takes today to stop an inappropriate tower siting, see Docket #543 under “Pending Matters” at https://portal.ct.gov/csc before removing local cell tower regs – the lowest hanging fruit that any town can possess in case it’s needed.
B, Blake Levitt is the Communications Director at The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Council. She writes about how technology affects biology.