It should be very easy to have that fee waived for the first year. Just make the phone call. Then call again at the end of the year to ask them to waive it again, or else you will cancel.
I was somewhat annoyed that while they waived my fee, they insisted on $50 for our second card... so I didn't bother with it. Adding that to my request list at renewal time
question about fee waivers vs cancelling & reapplying… if you cancel & reapply… don't you get a new card and in so doing get the current signup bonus of 10k points? if the latter, does one wait for a few months or immediately re-apply for the new spg (with fee waiver?)