LA-RICS public-safety LTE project in peril after LA City Council votes to stop construction
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LA-RICS public-safety LTE project in peril after LA City Council votes to stop construction
Los Angeles City Council members yesterday unanimously voted to halt construction of Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) public-safety LTE cell sites in the city—a move that could undermine the largest first-responder broadband project in the country, according to several sources.
With the 12-0 vote, the Los Angeles City Council ordered that “construction of the LTE system at city of Los Angeles fire stations and police stations not commence, or immediately cease, if started.” This represents the second major entity to halt LTE construction, after the Los Angeles County board of supervisors last week stopped construction at most of its fire stations and many other sites for a period of at least two weeks.
In addition, the city council ordered its representatives on the LA-RICS joint powers authority (JPA) board to attempt to convince the LA-RICS JPA to change its current rules, which require member jurisdictions to participate in both the public-safety LTE project and the P25 public-safety LMR deployment being pursued by LA-RICS. According to the approved motion, the Los Angeles City Council wants the JPA to “bifurcate” the projects, so the city can remain in the LMR initiative but exit the LTE effort.
If the LA-RICS JPA does not agree to bifurcate the public-safety communications projects and it is apparent that the LTE project cannot be finished by the Sept. 30 deadline associated with federal grant funding, the city council instructed its JPA representatives to “work to terminate the LTE project.”
Today, the LA-RICS JPA will conduct a meeting, the focal point of which is expected to be the status of the LTE project.
In the approved motion made by Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch Englander, the city council expressed its concerns about the financial burden that the LTE project could place on the city.
“The LA-RICS JPA will have to bear the full costs of any required work not completed by [the deadline associated with federal grant funding],” according to the motion. “The city share of JPA costs could be up to 40%, depending on the participation of other jurisdictions.
“These cost uncertainties, coupled with continued withdrawals of other jurisdictions from the LA-RICS JPA, delays in construction, and concerns by end users at proposed LTE sites, make it necessary to immediately halt the construction of the LTE portion of the system.”
Despite the intent to halt construction on the public-safety LTE network, Englander did not close the door on the city eventually participating in the LA-RICS broadband system. For this to happen, officials for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) would have to extend the deadline for the $154.6 million in Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants that represent most of the funding for the project.
Whether such an extension is realistic is a source of disagreement.
Englander said he believes the extension scenario is possible.
“The message that we’ve gotten is that [federal-government officials] want to make sure that we have systems in place,” Englander said during the meeting, which was webcast. “We’re all hopeful that they will extend some of those deadlines, and we’ll work on all of those issues.”
During an IWCE session two weeks ago, LA-RICS Executive Director Patrick Mallon said he believes there is “not a chance in hell” that federal officials would extend the deadline for the use of the federal grants.
Yesterday, multiple other sources also expressed doubt that the LA-RICS could be salvaged as currently proposed.
“Unfortunately, it looks like it is dead,” one source familiar with the situation said on the condition of anonymity.
I know there are a lot of
I know there are a lot of moving parts to this story, and what’s important to industry insiders might not matter to others. But it would have been nice to have been able to read WHY this happened. I’m a former newspaper reporter with two-way radio background who’s new to this business. WHY was the project halted? Old technology? Citizen panic over cell phone towers? Lack of transparency? Some combination of all the above? All of that is hinted at near the bottom of the story, but none of it is clear. Taking a paragraph or two to spell it out for those of us who just walked in would have been nice.
Good for LA. LA doesn’t get
Good for LA. LA doesn’t get much right but in this instance they’re doing the right thing even if it is for some odd reasons. I suggest that perhaps they should also consider the future costs of implementing federal edicts. Like so many other federal programs this will be foisted off on customers with grant money only to have the costs of ongoing maintenance skyrocket down the road. stuff coming from DC is almost never affordable and almost never a good idea. P25 is such a great recent example of that. Radios are handed out under grants only to have the cost of ownership become completely unsustainable later. The feds and their corporate lackies really aren’t good at much and this retarded LTE effort is one of those things.
And this whole safety issue
And this whole safety issue is a joke. I’ve seen a majority of these fire and police station. Most already have some form of antenna or microwave dish installed on roof top. Other are build in older building with that sign (building contains chemicals known by the stat of Calif. to cause cancer…) Then there’s already fuel/tank station installed at most of the location. But most importantly the RF side. Think about cell phone carriers commercials (AT&T, Verison) remember the coverage maps. Well, how do cell phone signals manage to cover an area. Antennas are installed EVERYWHERE. On tower, poles, fake trees, and building facade. Some site you wouldn’t know there were antennas there. Some site have up to (12) antennas per carrier. All these complains about safety from RF but if I bet if a person’s phone drops or they’re stuck using 3G not 4G they flip out. Plus we are talking about LA County, how’s the air up there. Don’t get me wrong safety 1st, but come on think about it.
This tells the story,
This tells the story, “require member jurisdictions to participate in both the public-safety LTE project and the P25 public-safety LMR deployment being pursued by LA-RICS.” Safety may very well be the reason they are using but the above sentence tells more. Why build 2 systems at the same time? Especially when FirstNet still has much work to do on standards. If they were to build this LTE system would it fit the final standards of FirstNet or would they have to replace the one they are currently building with thousands more taxpayer dollars? Build the LMR system and leave LTE out of it until there are final standards. Also, mandating agencies to adopt both systems and not one or the other is a bad way to do business. Especially when you want their participation. Back to the drawing board.
The Public Safety entities in
The Public Safety entities in LA, the various politicians, and ultimately the citizens they serve, will get what they deserve out of this scenario. That is to say – nothing. There is so much misinformation being spouted that it’s a wonder these people feel confident enough to speak publicly.
First – The LTE sites being installed are no different than the commercial sites in use today. They will transmit with the same power. Second, the LTE sites use less power than LMR sites. All the concern around RF radiation is not only baseless, but demonstrates ignorance of the facts. Every citizen who puts their cell phone up to their ear, keeps it in their pockets, or has them attached to their hips are being exposed to just as much, and probably more, RF than comes off a cell tower, in much closer proximity. Ban cell phones everywhere LA!
Second – the LTE site technology being used isn’t 20 to 30 years old – impossible since LTE as a standard is only 5 years old. The individual mentions micro-cells which he has in his own house. Great for him, but he is using commercial band frequencies, not public safety frequencies. Equipment has to be manufactured to transmit/receive at specific frequencies, and the micro cell technology for public safety band LTE is in its infancy.
Third – public safety often clamors for Public Safety GRADE equipment. Meaning it needs to be hardened, resilient, and more reliable than the commercial counterparts. Unless citizens across LA are willing to install generators and UPS units inside their homes to power the microcells, they will not achieve the PS Grade requirements.
This is being maneuvered for political reasons only. Scientific fact and analysis is playing no part – just hype and emotional manipulations.
The public safety LTE system won’t just help responders do their jobs better – it will transform the way public safety takes place today. Entire new forms of information and intelligence will be available at their fingertips – helping fire commanders decide if a building is structurally sound before sending in fire teams, helping police commanders rapidly assess crowd dynamics and evaluate the most effective positions for crowd control, automating the transfer of information from one 911 center to another, electronically, without human intervention, and body-worn sensors that monitor the health of responders as they go into a situation, and automatically alert when the responder is hurt, and guide their backup to them remotely. All of these things just scratch the surface of the capabilities the network will provide.
Alas, the citizens and responders and politicians can all get what they deserve – nothing at all. So the next time there is an earthquake, wildfire, riot, or plain old house fire or domestic disturbance, and someone is injured or killed because they didn’t have effective or interoperable communications, everyone can look back and be proud. Be proud that they boxed themselves into 20th century communication modes because they were too short sighted to embrace 21st century technology. Who knows, the bad guys will probably be putting that 21st century technology to good use by then.