Clackamas 800 Radio Group held their neighborhood information meeting to discuss a proposed installation of the 196.5 foot telecommunications tower in the Cooks Butte nature park. Despite C800’s inadequate communication of this meeting and the meeting conflicting with the Lakeridge Middle School Back-to-School Night, neighbors rallied to get their community to the event through door-to-door conversations, flyers, and yard signs promoting Save Cooks Butte. The event was well attended by the community with standing room only from concerned citizens.
The community conducted themselves respectfully under the circumstances, communicating to the C800 group why this all natural park is an important icon in our community and their displeasure on repeated attempts by the City to build a telecommunication tower in the park against the wishes of John and Marjorie Emery whom deed the land to the City for a fraction of its true market value under the agreement the park would remain a forever natural habitat. The community thanked the first responders repeatedly throughout the meeting showing their appreciation and support for their work and need for good communications. However, the community asked intelligent and well articulated questions on the intended purposed of the land versus human structures, technology selection and obsolescence, other locations considered, what were true communication gaps, health consequences to human and wild life within a heavy populated residential area, amongst other very important aspects.
A key message was “the easiest solution is not necessarily the best solution.” The community would like the City and C800 to investigate alternative locations that are not in nature parks and not in residential areas. There are many other locations C800 could pursue in the region, even if there are a few smaller towers over one monstrosity of a tower, to provide coverage.