Chapala Mayor Joaquin Huerta earned kudos this week for assuming the role of a hands-on warrior in the latest episode of an on-going public crusade against the proliferation of unsightly cellular phone towers in lakeside area neighborhood.
He is being hailed as a brave protagonist by outraged residents of housing developments located along the Ajijic-Chapala by-pass who had witnessed the rise of a giant metal structure that sullied their panoramic view of Lake Chapala.
In early September, homeowners in the Cielo Vista subdivision first noticed signs that the construction the steel lattice base station tower (BTS) was underway. Investigating the matter at city hall, they learned that the tower was being built on private land without the local government’s authorization. They were assured that local authorities would act energetically on their behalf.
However, despite shut-down orders issued by inspectors from the municipality’s regulations office on at least three occasions, workmen repeatedly appeared at the site under cover of darkness to continue their labors.
Alerted by residents and subdivision security guards as the clandestine work proceeded, Chapala police frequently showed up in the middle of the night to run off the crew. But with insufficient police manpower to maintain round-the-clock surveillance at the scene, the mayor appealed to neighbors to lend a hand.
Over the past several weeks, a volunteer lookout team kept up a constant vigil near the property to keep the authorities apprised of the situation. According to Huerta, early this week two workmen were detained and fined for violating the closure seals.
Meanwhile, the mayor and other city officials were been busy working on legal procedures to bring down the new tower and devise long-term strategies to prevent future mushrooming of similar structures.
After interested parties involved in BTS project the ignored several citations to appear at city hall, the municipality’s legal department issued a demolition order that was executed on Wednesday, October 8.
Officers from Chapala’s Civil Protection Unit arrived at the site around 1:30 p.m. to begin dismantling the tower, with the mayor himself scrambling up the structure to lead the crew. A contingency of police officers, legal department officials and other city hall staff were also on hand to provide security back-up and physical assistance.
Huerta and two men donned safety harnesses before climbing to the top of the tower where they spent more than three hours removing a lightning rod and poles installed to hold transmission gear.
The mayor’s bravado stems not just from determination to stand up for his employees and a concerned constituency, but also from his professional background. He is a titled electrical engineer whose working experience in the field of telecommunications includes a stint as manager of the Chapala branch of Telecable.
“I went up there to encourage the guys in hazardous work and to help them assess the best method to disassemble the tower,” he remarked after finally touching earth around 6 p.m. He said they figured out a way remove it in several large sections. That part of the task was finally accomplished around 1 a.m. with the use of an industrial size crane.
While the mayor was up in the air, a dozen more workmen were occupied in hauling out assorted hardware equipment installed on the premises, including pieces bearing the label of Nextel, a communications giant that has previously lacked infrastructure to provide cell phone service in the lakeshore region.
Surreptitious installation of BTS facilities has become a recurrent problem for the Huerta administration which has followed a strict policy of refusing permits to erect towers in residential areas. One of the first stealth projects detected by local authorities was the transmission tower built and put into operation in Las Redes, not far from the mayor’s home. Timely tip-offs from wary residents have helped the government intervene promptly to halt other undercover work attempted in Rancho del Oro, San Antonio Tlayacapan and two Chapala neighborhoods.
Expressing his posture on the subject, Huerta says he understands that the telecommunications industry is keen to widen networks in response to growing demand for comprehensive and efficient cell phone service, but he doesn’t believe that justifies dotting the community with eyesores. “Companies ought to invest in new technology that will serve the purpose without marring the landscape,” he insists.
Members of the city council are now reviewing an official urban planning scheme to draw up modifications with specific language to ban the placement of BTS and similar telecommunication infrastructure in undesirable locations.