Subject: Citizens oppose tower proposal in Pennsylvania (Kelley)....
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 104704 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
--------------------------------------------------
......In this one, the citizens seem NOT to realize ... that the
proposed (single) tower will carry MANY antennas -- for the various
participating companies.... That compounds the problem...... That
is not a solution.....
In my view, this example well illustrates how important it is that
we ALWAYS think of these exposure situations in terms of the **total**
Blue World implications..... Worrying about ONE tower ... or ONE antenna
... or ONE power line is rarely the full extent of the problem.....
EVERYBODY ... (including these so-called "scientific" panels, like the one
I sent to you this morning from the U.K.) ... PLEASE realize that Mother
Nature's EMF exposures are ALL of the Blue World transmissions you are
exposed to ... at home at work and at play.....
Guru says: The shallow, transparent approach to the EMF exposure threat
(in terms of the cell phone alone) that was taken by both the Canadian
and the U.K. study panels was sophomoric in its approach....
I'll bet:
If those professors(??) had assigned a similar case to their students to
examine the health risks of EMF exposure in our society ... and the
student had come back with a paper talking about the "cell phones" or the
"microwave oven" or the "hair dryer" (as if that were the total and
exclusive definition of exposure "risk") -- they would "fail" that
student.....
Cheerio.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at:
EMF-L archives can be found at:
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 07:27:34 -0700
From: Libby Kelley
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: citizens oppose tower proposal in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania News-Tribute
September 21, 1999
Seven Fields residents disagree with need for tower
By Maureen O. Byko
NORTH HILLS NEWS RECORD
Bell Atlantic Mobile believes a new transmission tower in Seven Fields
will benefit everyone who
uses cellular phones in the area, including residents.
About 75 people who live in Seven Fields disagree.
Those residents signed a petition opposing construction of a 180-foot
tower on a hill overlooking
Mars-Crider Road.
During a recent meeting, representatives of Bell Atlantic as well as
Crown Communications, which
would build the tower, tried to convince residents and officials of the
need to build a tower in Seven
Fields that might serve all of the cellular companies that hope to
improve service in the Route 228
corridor.
"Our goal is to provide a one-tower solution to the borough," said Herb
Hungerman, manager of
real estate/zoning for Bell Atlantic in Pittsburgh.
The land Bell Atlantic has in mind is 11.5 acres owned by the Seven
Fields Development Co., and
zoned to allow cellular towers. The development company plans to donate
the land to the borough
so, ultimately, the borough would lease the land to Bell Atlantic.
Communities are required by law to zone for all uses and, in Seven
Fields, this land is the only area
suitable for a cellular tower, Hungerman said.
The tower, if built where proposed, would be 410 feet from the nearest
residential property. But
that distance is not enough to meet the borough ordinance.
Hungerman said the tower, to be able to send signals, must be taller than
trees around it. His
calculation shows that the 180-foot height would be the lowest that would
work, Hungerman said.
The borough's ordinance would only allow a tower of about 95 feet, he
said. The borough requires
that an area twice the size of the height of the tower remain open around
the tower.
To be able to meet that specification, Hungerman said, the tower would
have to be about 95 feet,
and would be useless.
"The setback requirement doesn't work," he said.
His attorney, Joseph Cortese, suggested the ordinance is "exclusionary,"
in that it doesn't allow
cellular towers to be built anywhere in the borough where they could
actually provide proper
service.
In addition, the ordinance requires cellular phone towers to be
camouflaged. In Fox Chapel, two
towers have been erected that are disguised as pine trees. Hungerman
suggested that a 180-foot
pine tree would not be very realistic.
"You don't see 180-foot pine trees," he said.
Instead, he said, the company would build a single pole that has antennae
at the top.
The company would have to request variances from the borough's zoning
hearing board so it would
be exempt from the setback and camouflage zoning regulations, he said.
Hungerman provided council with a computer model showing gaps in service,
focusing on the Route
228 corridor in Seven Fields. He said the company is obligated as a
public utility to provide proper
service, and this tower is necessary to achieve that goal.
Residents in the audience, however, disagreed that service is bad, saying
they are able to complete
calls in the borough regularly. They also said they don't want to live in
the shadow of a 180-foot
tower.
Councilman Phil Smith questioned the company's information that supported
the need for the tower,
saying the ordinance allows cell towers if there is a "clearly
demonstrated need."
"Quite frankly, this doesn't prove to me there's a need," he said. Smith
said he personally has lost
reception on one phone call in the borough. Normally, he said, service is
fine.
Council members pressed Hungerman to provide clearer information proving
the need, such as the
number of complaints for lost calls in the Route 228 corridor.
Hungerman agreed to try to gather more data to bring back to a future
council meeting.
Images and text copyright © 1999 by The Tribune-Review
Publishing Co.
Libby Kelley
Executive Director
Council on Wireless Technology Impacts
aka ~ Ad Hoc Association of Parties Concerned about
the FCC's Radiofrequency Radiation Health and Safety Rules
____________________________
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Phone - 415-892-1973
Fax - 415-892-3108
Address:
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Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com