Neighbors of Eureka church protest planned cell tower
A couple dozen picket sign-packing protesters lined the 200 block of Harris St. Friday, expressing their civic outrage over a proposed cell phone tower set to rise from the grounds of the Apostolic Faith Church that occupies the block. The church pastor allegedly requested the tower from Verizon to compensate for measly tithing. “We’re the neighbors, and we’re mad,” said Henderson Center resident Thao Le Khac. “There are all kinds of unknown health hazards. Plus, the aesthetics hurt our resale values. And we don’t even need it!” Le Khac said.
She and other church neighbors claim they were not given proper notice of the proposed 60 ft. communication beacon, which would be disguised as a bell tower. Eureka City Council candidate George Clark was on hand, showing sympathy and concern. “I heard only five people were notified,” Clark told one protester as passing motorists offered honks of support. “The city council doesn’t have an ordinance to regulate cell towers. It needs one. We have to make sure there’s a thorough notification process,” he said.
Oh, but there is, said Eureka Director of Community Development Kevin Hamblin. Speaking from his office Friday, Hamblin said “the notification requirement is that notice be mailed (to every resident) within 300 feet.” And it was. To prove as much to incredulous residents at a recent city council meeting, the planning staff produced a photocopied list of the mailed address labels and a printout from the department’s postage meter.
“The city council determined that the notification was correct and that it did meet the City’s code,” Hamblin said. “But you can’t always guarantee that someone will take notice of the notice.” Protesters say, bottom line, if none of them heard about it, not enough notice was given. They plan to return to church grounds every Friday at 1 p.m. until they are appeased.
This article appears in Downticket.
The protesters have a good point. Notices sent out often don’t tell you what is really going on, so residents get blindsided. The church should reconsider going forward with this lease, if they want to be good neighbors.
Notices of this type are often minimal and obfuscating in their language. Perhaps the letter of the law was followed but obviously the intent was missed.
And who knows if they were actually delivered? Lots of bulk mail stuff just gets dumped before it gets delivered.
Cell phone towers are implicated in a lot of bad stuff, they broadcast microwaves, the same stuff that pops your popcorn inside of a metal box.
Except on the towers they are not inside of a metal box, they are designed to saturate the neighborhood.
Thao Le Khac and her group should be congradulated as a rare group of concerned citizens willing to step out and draw attention to detrimental development.
We need more people like Thao Le Khac.
One difference between the two is microwave ovens have a much larger wattage output.
It hasn’t been proven to be detrimental.
Do you wifi? Same frequency range anymore.
Do you use Bluetooth? Same frequency range.
If you believe industry-funded studies, correct.
False. Positioning a WiFi router 3 feet from you makes it safe. A cell tower has a much wider radius and power output. Do you propose people abandon their homes?
[quote]Positioning a WiFi router 3 feet from you makes it safe. [/quote]
“If you believe industry-funded studies, correct.” Right back at you.
Also how many laptops, or other wifi enabled computers are 3 or more feet away?
If you willing to throw out studies for one, why not both?
Are people abandoning their homes?
Ever figure out how many cell phone cites are in Eureka? There is 29 towers with in 4 miles of that site.
I think capdiamont is making up statistics about the number of cell towers. So be specific. Where are they?
Anon 9:34,
You’ll find your answer on Cap’s blog:
linked here
He pulls info from AntennaSearch.com
No towers within a half-mile radius. I’m sure we could find a bizillion towers in a 10 or 100 or 1,000 mile radius. What’s the point? Oh yes, to dismiss concern by shoveling useless information. Proximity is everything when it comes to radiation.
Guess I’d better stop using my cordless phone, garage door opener, and car remote entry. And I’ll put on a tin foil hat whenever I go through those security gates at store entrances. Is the shiny side supposed to go on the inside or outside?
The characteristics of those home appliances and other devices are completely different from a cell tower. Guess you’d better educate yourself before embarrassing yourself again.
Bob:
I looked at antenna search as you suggested. Most are not cell towers. It seems a little disingenious to talk about the number of towers as being 29 when we are discussing cell towers, not towers in general.
We live in a virtual bath of EMF energy. If you are truly afraid of it you should quit using electricity. Its effect decays according to the inverse square law so a little distance mitigates quite a bit.
If you are concerned about exposure to risk a more important question is: How fast do you drive?
I should clarify my above remark to make sure any implied criticism was of capdimont for his implication there are 29 cell phone towers. Bob is only guilty of not looking carefully enough at his post.
It is true however, that due to dispersion of the signal, cell towers are of very low intensity even to people nearby. If you are going to be concerned about anything it should be the phone you are holding next to your brain. I know we are still waiting for more studies on this, but holding a microwave transmitter next to your head should give you some pause. This may be one of those cases where all the “experts” tell you not to worry, then later we learn we have an increase in brain cancer. In short, beware what corporate America says is good for you.
Huck’s post almost suggests that concern about EMF is all irrational. Not quite so. I won’t put in all the links…you can research this yourself. But there are some serious health hazards well documented for certain conditions such as military radar and high tension lines. For other common devices such as computers, monitors, home wiring, TVs, clock radios, Wireless networks, and so on there is less data to show certain danger, but taken in total it is amazing how bombarded by EMF we are in this modern world. I am not suggesting we all turn out the lights, but I am certain we don’t know all there is to know about the possible affect of all of this on our health.
I just don’t think people with signs standing in the street yelling is a good rational forum to discuss risk assessment. Most technology comes with risk attached to it. We need to look at it to determine if the gains out weigh the risks. A cell phone glued to the side of the head probably represents more risk than people are willing to admit, whether it is EMF or just being distracted all the time.
Truthfully speaking Huck, these people were not yelling with signs in the street at all. They were there in peaceful silence with signs voicing their concerns. It was their last resort to be heard. They were never included in the cell tower discussion, and was never a part of the decision making process. For a moment, put yourself in their shoes, how would you feel if a cell tower goes up across the street from your house with out any notification. Meanwhile, you discovered that it was all about someone trying to make money without considering your well being.
Huck says “determine if the gains out weigh the risks.”
Most of the gains in this case go to the church.
While it is true the church will profit most directly, everyone’s cell phone reception will improve from this project. I live near a farm and I don’t get any benefit from the smell of the cows yet it is a condition of living near cows. Eureka is a city and cell towers need to go somewhere in a city.
I do appreciate Huck’s point of view, posing questions for a deeper thought. Some of the neighbors on the picket line have brought up this issue. Apparently, they do get perfect reception here and surrounding areas. Perhaps some people will get better reception, but the risks of those living near by is frightening to them. Living near a farm with smells does not equate to the danger of radiation of unknown contemporary technology. There are published studies. A lot of neighbors spoke of selling their home to get away from this.