Verizon Urges Injunction Forcing Milwaukee to OK Small Cells for GOP Convention

Verizon seeks a preliminary injunction, pending trial on the merits of its claims in the case, ordering the city of Milwaukee “to issue permits and all necessary permissions” for the installation of small-cell wireless communications facilities in the city’s Deer District (see 2311270034), said its motion Monday (docket 2:23-cv-01581) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Verizon has applied for permits to install multiple small-cell facilities “in anticipation of increased demand for wireless services” during the Republican National Convention July 15-18 at the district’s Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and the NCAA's Marquette Golden Eagles, said the motion. The city has denied Verizon’s applications, in violation of Section 332 of the Telecommunications Act and Section 66.0414 of the Wisconsin statutes, it said.

Verizon is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims, plus it will suffer irreparable harm if denied the permits, said the motion. The balance of the hardships favors Verizon, and the injunction won’t harm the public interest, it said.

More than 50,000 attendees, plus nearly 5,000 law enforcement personnel, “all packed into three city blocks,” and “all on their phones,” said Verizon’s brief in support of its motion for the preliminary injunction. “That’ll be the scene in the Deer District when Milwaukee hosts the Republican National Convention this July,” it said.

That dense packing of people and wireless usage, in the absence of planned network upgrades by Verizon, will in all likelihood cause service gaps in the Deer District area, said Verizon’s brief. That will mean call drops, blocked calls, diminished call quality, messaging failures and slow data, it said. “Even law enforcement and first responders with priority network access will experience connectivity issues,” it said.

Verizon knows this “because it happened before during the NBA Finals in summer 2021" during Milwaukee Bucks watch parties outside the Fiserv Forum, said the brief. “Verizon also knows exactly how to prevent service gaps in the Deer District” by installing four “inconspicuous” small-cell wireless facilities atop utility poles in the existing pedestrian mall outside the arena, it said.

But the city blocked Verizon’s “ready solution,” said the brief. Denying Verizon’s permit applications, the city claimed, “in all of two sentences,” that the proposed poles are aesthetically displeasing and too close to existing poles, it said. The city’s denials “are arbitrary, unsupported by evidence," and violate both the federal TCA and Wisconsin law, it said.

Congress enacted the TCA to encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies, said the brief. It expressly directed courts to hear and decide claims under the TCA on an expedited basis, it said. “To those ends, courts often enjoin local governments to issue permits -- and often at the preliminary-injunction stage,” it said.

Amid the time it takes to order, manufacture and install the specially designed poles and small cells for the Deer District installations, Verizon needs permits by Jan. 29 to be ready in time for the Republican convention, said the brief. “Without preliminary relief and timely permits, the poles and small cells won’t go up,” it said. Downtown Milwaukee residents, visitors and law enforcement “will face unnecessary service gaps and public safety risks this summer,” it said. The court should grant Verizon’s motion, it said.