Soulard Restoration Group/
AT&T Agreeement

2 November 2009
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Photo courtesy Paul Kjorlie*

We were informed via telephone that the company was unwilling to do this.

Upon hearing repeatedly that AT&T would not remove the boxes, the Board decided to take steps to mitigate their impact. President Jim Price presented these desires to AT&T’s John Sondag personally on July 29:

• $10,000.00 upon agreement to landscape the area with berms, trees, stone and other appropriate materials to completely hide the boxes from view.
• $5,000.00 per year for as long as the boxes remain for upkeep of that area and the park as a whole.
• AT&T to install WiFi or its equivalent, throughout Soulard.
• Installation of AT&T’s U-Verse at the police substation located at 2401 S. 11th Street, for the SLMPD officers’ use, and to our SRG Headquarters Building (once completed).
• Most importantly, a promise in writing that AT&T will consult our organization, as well as go through all other proper channels, and notify all surrounding neighbors before putting such additional boxes in Soulard in the future.

On August 19 the Board was made aware by Alderwoman Phyllis Young that the City Counselor’s office had drafted a Memo of Understanding. In the agreement, AT&T offered to make a cash contribution of $10,000 and to consult the SRG and contact nearby property owners before placing anymore such equipment in Soulard. SRG would agree to release AT&T from any claims arising form the placement of the current boxes in their current location. The other requests were denied.

The SRG was advised by attorney member Steve Erickson that the organization did not have much recourse with AT&T. The city of St. Louis owns the park and manages it through the Parks Department. Therefore it is the City that has standing to pursue any legal action. Additionally, there were issues related to the “grandfathering” of right to AT&T. With those entities unwilling to enter into a legal fight with AT&T to remove the boxes, the SRG Board decided on October 21 to do what it saw was the next best thing – accept the money to pay for materials to cover them from sight.

After discussing and researching this issue for nearly a year, our organization felt we were out of options to fight for the removal and decided to move on with mitigating their existence through beautification. Two SRG boards spent dozens of hours on this issue and listened to numerous parties before realizing that our group does not have the resources or even the legal authority to go after AT&T. It is with some reluctance that we accept this situation, but it is with vigilance and determination that we will monitor future work to be sure that AT&T Missouri holds up their end of the agreement to consult us for all future installations.

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*photograph taken August 13, 2009