Council Urged to Restrict Location of Wireless Antennas
A non-profit advocacy group is urging the City of White Plains to restrict locating wireless telecommunication facilities in only commercial or industrial zones.
5GAlert Westchester, a group of residents dedicated to educating the public about the risks of 5G antennas and offering solutions to protect communities, is circulating a petition calling on the White Plains Common Council to enact protective amendments to the city’s Wireless Cell Antenna Code.
“It is imperative to act immediately in order ‘o promote the safety of life and property,” the petition states in part. “We are neighbors from across White Plains. We are all seeking a safe place to live and a decent quality of life for ourselves, our children and our community.”
In March, city officials approved the installation of 5G cell antennas in the downtown business area.
However, 5GAlert Westchester members maintain existing code regulations give the telecom industry “free rein” to install wireless antennas in residential neighborhoods, adjacent to houses, apartments, schools and play areas.
“These cell antennas would expose us, involuntarily, to constant wireless radiation, making our homes and schools and the entire City of White Plains unsafe, and would diminish our quality of life,” the petition contends.
Telecom industry experts have long maintained the technology is safe, but 5GAlert Westchester argues, “There is a large body of peer reviewed science that shows significant biological effects from exposure to wireless radiation, including ‘clear evidence’ of cancer, heart abnormalities, neurological, reproductive and cognitive damage.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has not updated its exposure standards since 1996, which factors thermal effects, but not other biological impacts. Hundreds of medical and public health professionals have called for a moratorium on the 5G wireless technology rollout and for the FCC to develop rigorous standards for wireless devices and infrastructure.
Meanwhile, 5GAlert Westchester is also requesting the Common Council reinstate Citizens to be Heard sessions at meeting currently being conducted on Zoom. The Common Council has obliged, scheduling a session for citizens to speak in the city chambers on Monday, August 3 at 7 p.m.
Attempts to reach to the council about the petition were unsuccessful.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/