First P28 Meeting

A report on the 4/30/07 meeting at the Arivaca Community Center~

"Arivaca's First Community Meeting on Project 28"

Monday evening a meeting about the Homeland Security/Boeing Project 28 was held at the Arivaca Community Center.  A standing-room only crowd of Arivacans posed questions to a panel of Homeland Security and Boeing personnel (partial list with contact information follows) after a brief introduction to the SBInet and Project 28. Unfortunately, it seems this was only a public relations outing for the officials who attended. Arivaca was told that SBInet and the location of the “Arivaca Tower” less than two miles from Main Street, Arivaca on Tres Bellotas Road at the southwest corner of Arivaca was a done-deal.  While regret was expressed that we were not given adequate notice of this project, nor any meaningful opportunity to respond or participate in implementation strategies, there was no suggestion that our input could alter the course of the project at this time.  After “the experiment”, which will last 4, 8 or 12 months (depending on who was speaking), it is possible that the “Arivaca Tower” might be moved.  It was also suggested that Arivaca and environs would be the recipients of one or more additional towers as the project is expanded along the border.

Citizens asked questions for more than two hours.  Sadly, very few questions were actually answered except those about the basic tower configuration and Project 28 strategy. Most important questions were deflected or ignored.  There were many questions about the failure of the United States immigration and economic policies that had led to the flood of illegal immigration.  On these questions, officials simply demurred ~ not their area of responsibility. Questions directly related to Project 28 and tower placement that were unanswered, though asked, included:

bulletWhy aren’t the Project 28 towers all closer to the border?  Placement of the “Arivaca Tower” 12 miles north of the border effectively moves the international border, makes Arivaca a new border town, and leaves the United States citizens who live south of the “new border” defenseless.  (Officials stated that they didn’t want to “look into Mexico” as that might be considered offensive. They had no qualms about  creating a "prison yard" environment for the entire community of Arivaca, with cameras watching our every move. They did not address more acceptable alternate tower locations midway between Arivaca and the border.)
bulletThe “Arivaca Tower” will have loud “hailer-horns” which can emit blasts of up to 130 decibels.  The tower is within one and a half miles of the Lonesome Oak Ranch, where young children will be on horseback.  All it will take is one blast spooking one horse and we could have death or serious injury to a thrown child.  The town was assured the horn blasts won’t be “random”; rather they will be initiated by remote personnel in Tucson.  These individuals, however, will have no information about who’s in the neighborhood riding horses. And what of blasts that loud in a populated area, when at that level, immediate damage to hearing can occur? How can this be considered an acceptable public health risk? 
bulletWhy does this “high tech” project seem so outdated?  Why isn’t satellite imagery being used?
bulletWhat effect will the tower's use of the limited band for public wireless communications have on those communications? Will there be increased interference in Arivaca's wireless internet connections, cell phone operations, etc.? Why isn't the project using government controlled frequencies to minimize the possibility of compromising the wireless frequencies so critical to our rural community, and to minimize the chance that hackers will compromise the security of the project?
bulletOfficials acknowledged that Project 28 would push the flow of illegal migrants and drug smugglers around the “ends of the line”.  On the east side, that will put the flow through the community of Arivaca, the 165,000 acres of the local section of the Coronado National Forest, and probably on to the communities of Amado, Tubac, and Green Valley.  When asked how they were going to deal with this, the Border Patrol simply stated that they had 100 additional agents ready to be deployed. What they didn’t answer is how these agents were going to be able to handle the situation when the entire Project 28 is a result of agents on the ground being unable to handle the situation in the past.
bulletAll of the technology mounted on the 98 foot towers is “line of sight”.  Neither the cameras nor the radar can see through ridges into the washes and canyons where the majority of illegal entrants travel.  In Arivaca, entrants travel on two major wash complexes, the Yellow Jacket and Fraguita washes. The chosen “preferred” location of the “Arivaca Tower” has no real view into either wash complex.  Rather, it has a superb view of the townsite of Arivaca and the outlying “40 acres” section of the community, which is entire populated by citizens. Local Border Patrol officials agree that this “preferred” tower location is not optimal for discovery and apprehensive of illegals. It seems, however, that the Boeing Corporation, using topo maps and not much more, chose the site without taking advantage of local knowledge.  When asked why the tower could not be moved to a more effective, less invasive position, the unsatisfactory answer was that the whole thing was an experiment and that “if it needed to be moved, it would be moved.”  When?  After many months or a year of an intrusive and ineffective presence?  Why not now?

This reporter failed to take complete notes at the meeting, and welcomes emails with additional concerns that were raised, but not fully addressed.  Email the reporter by clicking here! 

Further updates will be added if there is any news of a possibility of having an impact on this project before full deployment, or if there are additional meetings scheduled.  Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting and expressed their concerns.  NPR (National Public Radio) attended our meeting, and today, May 1st, is featuring a story about our community’s reaction to SBInet Project 28 on “All Things Considered”.  Perhaps with some national exposure, our very real and legitimate concerns will be meaningfully engaged by the officials of Homeland Security and the Boeing Corporation. 

Guests at the meeting included:

J.T. King, Director, SBInet Field Offices, Hdqtrs US Border Patrol

            Washington, DC  thomas.king@dhs.gov  FAX: (202) 344-3140

John France, Mark Rios and Shawn Palmer, US Customs & Border Protection, Tucson Sector.  General phone (520) 670-6871

Kevin M. McGillis, Program Manager for SBInet, Boeing Company

            Cell phone: (314) 706-8897  kevin.m.mcgillis@boeing.com

 

Rubẻn H. Reyes, District Director for Congressman Raul Grijalva

            (520) 622-6788, ruben.reyes@mail.house.gov

 

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