Adopt New 5G Regulations - YES
5G—the next generation of "small-cell" wireless technology—promises to be much faster than anything we currently have, enabling all sorts of new commercial and military uses. As such, the Trump Administration has identified early US dominance in 5G as a national security priority.
Unfortunately, there are also seemingly valid concerns about the potential health and environmental effects of 5G radiation that have not yet been adequately studied. While the scientific consensus is still out on whether 5G poses any harm to human health, the precautionary principle—the idea that we shouldn't expose entire communities to a new technology before we know it's safe to do so—has led to a broad pushback against the implementation of 5G at the local level.
Not to be deterred by mere medical science, the FCC—controlled since the beginning of the Trump era by lobbyists and conflicted officials with industry ties (Trump's FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, used to work for Verizon)—issued an edict barring local jurisdictions from regulating 5G technology in any way that "effectively prohibits" its implementation, in a clear violation of Corte Madera's 10th Amendment right to local control.
The 5G Ordinance I voted to adopt is, in my opinion, the strictest regulation of 5G that can be defended under federal law. Anything more strict—which could be seen as effectively barring the deployment of 5G technology in town—would expose Corte Madera to a lawsuit we would almost certainly lose. I don't feel this would be a responsible use of taxpayer money.
Of course, we're not going to surrender to the Trump Administration while our concerns about health and safety go unaddressed. That is why I also voted for the Town of Corte Madera to join a class action lawsuit against the Trump FCC, challenging its preemption of local control as the gross overstep that it is. I am hopeful that Corte Madera will prevail in this important case.
