Forum
« Selling Hardwick Gas Range Floor staining advice -- urgent »
July 26, 2006
Renting roof space to cellular towers
Does anyone know the deal with letting verizon or whatever put up cellular units on your roof? I have a roof that commands a wide view of the area and would be a great place for a tower. It is landmarked, however. But it even in landmarked areas you gotta have capacity..
so I was wondering - I bet they pay a lot to stick that stuff on your roof. Anyone know? I see them on higher 4 story buildings quite frequently, must be a windfall for the owners..
Comments
You're certifiable.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 26, 2006 10:23 PM
I am not the original poster. Although I don't think it's a healthy idea to post one of these things on the top of your building, the above "you're certifiable" response is unwarranted.
If you're the kind of person who can afford a Brownstone without renting out half of it or sticking towers on the top of your building, more power to you. But for the rest of us, perhaps a $5,000 - $10,000 monthly mortgage is a bit steep. Some of us have to be creative in order to pay for the places where we live. Not all of us have the luxury of being able to rely on rich relatives, the lottery, or corporate grovelling to pay the bills.
Posted by: anon at July 27, 2006 2:18 AM
If you do this, think also about the resale value of your home. A buyer might be turned off by the potential health issues, and aesthetics, of having cellular towers on the roof.
Posted by: 1847 at July 27, 2006 10:19 AM
People will protest. This is happening in a bigger building in Park Slope, on 8th ave. The residents were up in arms and have fought it. You may not have any issues with putting a tower up, but your neighbors may especially regarding the potential health issues.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 27, 2006 10:23 AM
I thought Landmarks has to approve anything like this that is located in a Landmark District...and they typically won't approve roof-top structures that are visible from the street. A cell tower will certainly be visible. I can't saw I have ever seen a cell tower in a landmarked area and am very thankful for it. Plus unless your building is very tall, the coverage will be less than ideal, even with tall towers.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 27, 2006 11:30 AM
ok well thanks for the responses.
the landmark thing and the NIMBYs are probably the problem. I personally don't care about the health issues I don't respect anyone who runs in fear before reading the science - especially not when they clamp their own cellphone, which is transmitting, to their own ear all day long!
I'm not talking about something ugly or tall - you must have seen cellphone units now, they look like vertical white shoeboxes and usually just peak over the edge of the roof. The building is on the highest point of park slope and the highest roof around, as well. It would seem to be ideal, but I am SURE the neighbors would find some way to sink it.
Shame, as cellphone reception isn't good in prospect park..
Posted by: Anonymous at July 27, 2006 11:40 AM
Hey buddy,
You've got this science thing all wrong.
The phones you suggest clamped to our ears are harmless with regards to the cell towers. The cell towers transmit a higher frequency for multiple cellphones as opposed for one cell phone to receive that transmission. Does that open your eyes to general science. It's like that reservoir holding all that water so that 40 psi can come out of your toilet or sink.
The only thing shameful is posting us your problem to resolve paying oyur mortgage. Next thing you'll want is to wrap your home with a large coke ad
Posted by: Anonymous at July 27, 2006 12:37 PM
Hmm - Anon 12:37. Spoken like a non-scientist. . . Personal cell phones don't just receive transmissions, they must also be strong enough to transmit the signal back to the tower.
I don't have time to research it more throughly, but http://www.emfservices.com/cell-towers.htm states that "In reality, the energy that one is exposed to while holding a cell phone to the head is around 100 times greater than one is exposed to in the vicinity of a cell tower" and http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/faq/cellular.htm says "The radiofrequency energy these cellular antennas radiate has a power level similar to the energy emitted by common household light bulbs."
Posted by: HC at July 27, 2006 1:57 PM
I you want your neighbors to hate you...put up a cell tower.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2006 5:38 AM
HC,
All federal regulations say anything to pacify the demos, but the reality of the the towers is far greatere than that hand held device.
Wasn't second hand smoking a similar debate?
Oh well
Posted by: Anonymous at July 28, 2006 12:13 PM
All the posters complaining about so called health issues are ignorant of the facts.
No one has ever been successful removing a cell tower or blocking a cell tower due to so called health issues.
Maybe you should educate yourself before making such baseless claims.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 29, 2006 3:29 PM
Hehe, the cell towers are much safer than a cell phone held up against your head.
The phones and the towers use the same frequencies and the same power. The tower is on more of the time, but this is offset enormously by distance. The power goes down eightfold every time you double the distance. So assuming the tower is communicating with 1000 cell phones 24/7 and your cell phone antenna is half an inch from your head you and you use it 2 minutes a day, the front of the cell phone tower antenna just needs to be 3.72 feet away from your head for it to be less dangerous.
The people who complain most about the safety of cell phone towers spend way more than 2 minutes on the cell phone a day and keep the phone right up against their heads in complete ignorance. Some people are even advocating allowing children to carry cell phones in schools, for their "safety". Despite real health conserns with children under 10 using cell phones.
That said, I doubt Landmarks would like the cellphone tower and I tend to agree with that. Unless there is no way around it, the towers should be placed on more modern buildings, or placed inside an old wood roof/building. It's like those modern plastic or metal doors and windows you see on some Landmarked buildings, they are out of place.
PS I'm a non-cell phone owning electrical engineer.
PS2 The more cell phone towers there are, the safer the phones will be. They ramp up power the further they are away from the nearest tower.
Posted by: danielk at August 4, 2006 2:49 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.