Over 200 children led by their parents marched from P.S. 185 along the busy 86th Street business hub to the Verizon Wireless store at Fifth Avenue on Thursday to protest cell phone towers across from their school. They shouted and waved signs demanding: “Take the cell phone towers down!”
A week before, at a P.S. 185 PTA meeting, Council Member Vincent Gentile and state Senator Marty Golden announced a compromise by Verizon Wireless to move its cell phone antennas atop a six-story apartment building across 87th Street from the school to the center of the roof. The school is on Ridge Boulevard between 86th and 87th streets.
The compromise agreement said that the towers would be pointed away from the school, done as a precaution from the feared electromagnetic microwaves that worry many parents. They want to protect their children in the face of contradictory information on their possible health-harming effects. Parents furiously debated the compromise decision at their PTA meeting, being told it was the only realistic alternative by Gentile, Golden and their PTA leaders. It was “not good enough for us,” many parents argued.
Then, at a town hall meeting that evening held by Golden on a variety of topics, parent leaders announced that they were marching for the complete removal of all the cell phone antenna arrays atop the building, at the southeast corner of 87th Street and Ridge Boulevard. On Thursday at mid-afternoon, after school let out and children met their waiting parents, protestors gathered orderly, holding their handmade signs.
Joining the P.S. 185 PTA protest were some parents from Tiny Tots Day Care school, located on 88th Street between Ridge Boulevard and Third Avenue. Though at ground level, the school is on the same block as the apartment building.
Golden, Gentile and Bob Capano, representing Congressman Vito Fossella also took part in the protest.
Elected Officials Follow Parents Lead
“Whether it’s leading the charge to save Fort Hamilton Army Base, keeping the Brooklyn VA open or fighting to save Victory Hospital, Bay Ridge does not back down from a battle,” said Fossella in a statement after the rally. “The families of Bay Ridge have made their voices heard loud and clear. I believe it is in the best interest of all parties to work together to develop a solution that is acceptable to local residents and also allows wireless carriers to meet the growing demand for enhanced cell phone service.”
Steve Harrison, a former Community Board 10 chair and now as a board member, has been involved in the cell phone issue. At the PTA meeting Gentile and Golden told parents that legislation on city and state levels was in the works on cell phone tower placement near schools, but there was nothing in the works on the federal level.
Harrison, a Democrat running for Fossella’s congressional post, said he “will push for legislation restricting the placement of telecommunications equipment if studies warrant it.” In the meantime, he called for a moratorium on their placement near schools and in residential areas until “a comprehensive federal study of the effects of these deices on populated areas,” and he said he supports all “efforts opposing inappropriately placed towers.”
Verizon Wireless has not yet responded to the protest by students and their parents. Articles about the cell phone towers dispute have appeared on various blogs devoted to the subject.
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Parent and Children Protesters Chant: ‘Take Cell Phone Towers Down!’
Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Date: 03/14/2008
