By Adam Swift
Ward 2 City Councillor Ira Novoselsky wants the city to take more of an initiative to rid residential buildings of unnecessary and unused satellite dishes.
During last week’s council meeting, Novoselsky said he wasn’t happy with the response he got from the city solicitor’s office regarding a motion he filed asking it to draft an ordinance regulating the placement, installation, and removement of satellite dishes.
In a letter to the council, City Policy Writer and Analyst Claire Inzerillo stated that FCC rules prohibit governmental and private restrictions (on satellite dishes) to the extent that they impair the ability of individuals to install, maintain, or use over-the-air reception devices. She stated that there are exceptions to the rule for restrictions necessary to address clear safety or historic preservation issues, but that the “Council’s reference to satellite dishes being unsightly would most likely not qualify for a waiver from the FCC.”
The city should “err on the side of caution when looking to regulate privately-owned satellite dishes located on private property,” Inzerillo stated.
In 2018, she said the FCC sided with the Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association in finding that an ordinance violated the FCC’s over-the-air reception device rule.
“I strongly recommend the City of Revere take a different approach to inactive or abandoned satellite dishes,” stated Inzerillo, focused on education and information provided to residents.
“It took two years to get an answer on this, but overall, I am not happy with this communication,” said Novoselsky. “It is obvious that everybody here does not like to see the overwhelming abuse of satellite dishes on houses. Some of them have seven or eight dishes, and probably half of them don’t work, and according to the city solicitor, we can’t do anything about it.”
Novoselsky requested, and the council approved, discussing the issue further at a future meeting of the council’s economic development subcommittee.
