Los Angeles County residents will have five opportunities next month to give input on plans to build a network of radio towers to allow first-responders from dozens of agencies to communicate quickly in an emergency.
The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System, or LA- RICS, would replace an existing collection of 40 separate radio and data networks used by police, fire and paramedics to serve 10 million county residents.
The project was recently downsized from 177 radio towers after homeowners and firefighters voiced concerns about the project’s health and aesthetic effects. The project now calls for 69 fixed radio towers and 15 portable cell towers.
The radio waves from the towers would be “1,000 times less at ground level than the Federal Communications Commission limit,” which is “less than everyday electronic devices such as a laptop computer, microwave oven, Bluetooth headset — or a baby monitor,” according to a statement from the joint powers authority overseeing the LA-RICS project.
The public meetings will be held in each of the county’s five supervisorial districts:
— June 3, at 6 p.m., in El Monte at the El Monte Community Center, 3130 Tyler Ave.;
— June 4, at 6 p.m., in West Hollywood in Room 5 and 6 of Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd.;
— June 8, at 6 p.m., in Lynwood in Room 2 of Bateman Hall, 11330 Bullis Road.;
— June 9, at 6 p.m., in Lakewood at the Lakewood Youth Center, 4658 Woodruff Ave.;
— June 10, at 6 p.m., in Palmdale at the Palmdale Legacy Commons, 930 E. Avenue Q, 9
LA-RICS officials plan to describe the project and give the public time to comment.
— City News Service