Cell Phone Antennas and rooftop installations
A while back I remember reading a NYT article about a Park Slope co-op’s outcry over the installation of cell phone towers on their co-op’s rooftop. It seems the Board decided this without consulting shareholders. Having read this article, I was wonder how people feel about this issue today. Would you be comfortable living in…
A while back I remember reading a NYT article about a Park Slope co-op’s outcry over the installation of cell phone towers on their co-op’s rooftop. It seems the Board decided this without consulting shareholders.
Having read this article, I was wonder how people feel about this issue today. Would you be comfortable living in a building that leased its rooftop for cell phone tower use? What possible implications, other than questions on health, can arise?
I’ve worked in the cellular industry as an acquisition consultant (the guy who identifies viable properties and negotiates the leases) for 8 years. My degree was in Ecological and Resource management- ironic, granted.
A few comments:
1) Cell phone antennas on rooftops pose no health risk provided the antenna is functioning correctly and provided the antenna is at least 6 feet from a habitable area. Because of the law of physics governing signal strength/degradation ( 1 over R squared) the signal being emitted from an antenna decreases by 1/2 every foot from the point of emission. so, if you look at an a typical 100 watt antenna and do the calcs to just 3 feet you see that exposure is negligible.
2) HOWEVER- the above poster is correct. Using a cell phone without a hands free device IS dangerous if used more than 10-20 minutes per day. Look at the University of Geneva, Switzerland Study on rats and related benign tumor growth. It’s not the antennas that are dangerous but the phones themselves. Also, cell phones SHOULD NOT BE USED BY CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 16 except in the case of emergency. This should be intuitively obvious; nonetheless, the number of times i’ve been confronted by angry neighbors who object to antennas but still use a phone and allow their kids to use cell is absolutely mindboggling.
3) Average monthly income from a typical cell phone installation in Brooklyn is $1600-$2200/month for 20-30 years.
4) Average amount a co-op or condo would receive for selling it’s lease to a company like mine (based on the above figures) is $135,000 – 190,000.
5) The question of aesthetics. Agreed typical antenna rooftop installations are not particularly attractive but neither are electric poles and lines, HVAC units, street lights, or direct TV dishes. It’s a matter of cost/benefit relative to the public utility provided. And everyone has his/her own opinion here.
My opinion- most of us really don’t need cell phones. We survived just before their creation just fine.
Regards,
EMH
I don’t own a cell phone because I think holding a powerful radio transmitter half an inch from my brain everyday is about as smart as holding an incandescent light-bulb there. But I’ve lived under and next to cell phone towers and it never bothered me. The closest one ever was to me when in my apartment was 30 meters and pointed away (which they generally are).
I still don’t think this should be done without consulting the co-op members. I lived in a co-op where they sold antenna rights; while I was far from the antennas, one of the antennas, which were on a low attached building, pointed straight into someone’s apartment. If the cell-phone antenna planner knew their radiation maps would be shown at a co-op meeting they wouldn’t have done this. It was done out of sheer lazyness, the 90 year old man living there did not need a dedicated cell-phone antenna.
How much money is the building collecting for this? Might be worth it.
Evidence has been inconclusive at best, but that does not eliminate that a doubt does indeed exist, and that medical authorities admit to that doubt. This doubt alone makes me uncomfortable, and is enough to tell me that money earned from this type of project is not worth the risk for me or my family.
Would like to know if you have any evidence that cell phone tower waves are damaging (serious question.) From all I’ve read, emf doing anything bad is just rumor. But could be wrong.
Putnamdenizen, the comparison with the use of cell phones doesn’t quite compute with me. I basically have the power to turn my cell phone on and off at any given point, and it’s not strapped to my head 24/7. By the way, the same applies to the microwave. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have the same power to pull the lever on the cell phone tower whenever I wish to turn it off. It remains on continuously for whatever lease period is agreed to…this may be up to 20 years! Imagine having your phone attached to your head continuously for 20 years.
I assume neither of you use cellphones?
I would absolutely NOT feel comfortable with cell phone towers on my co-op’s roof.
Aside from being unsightly, who really knows what the negative health effects of living in close proximity to these things could be.
I’d fight it like hell. Who knows what damage these towers do?