Speak Out Against California State Assembly Bill 57

We are very concerned about the latest takeover by the Wireless Industry, California State Assembly Bill AB 57.  This bill gives the wireless industry super-rights, not intended by either Congress or the FCC and special state-level rights intended to make it almost impossible for the public to effectively argue against cell sites that are detrimental to community aesthetics and health. Communities need a voice in this process.

Right now, our community in North Oakland, the Golden Gate, is battling a Macro Telecommunications Facility planned for a residential neighborhood. We have organized and pushed this plan back several times, due to flaws in the plan. We have worked with Verizon and the City of Oakland asking that the needs and desires of the community be considered. If AB 57 was law we would not have this chance to speak out. Telecommunications law is already heavily biased in favor of the Telecommunications Industry. It has been shocking to see our needs as tax payers are not fairly represented by the government whose mandate is to protect the health and safety of it's citizens. We are part of a growing number of communities who are asking for a voice in the planning process of telecommunications sites. This bill would take away what little impact communities have to engage in the planning process.

Please speak out against AB 57.

Write and Call your State Assemblyman and Senator 
In the East Bay:
Assemblyman Tony Thurmond 
1515 Clay Street, Ste 2201, Oakland, CA 94612
510-286-1400 
Senator Loni Hancock

District Office 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2202 Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510) 286-1333 Fax: (510) 286-3885

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District Office 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2202 Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510) 286-1333 Fax: (510) 286-3885

California State Senate Majority Caucus © | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Statement

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District Office 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2202 Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510) 286-1333 Fax: (510) 286-3885

California State Senate Majority Caucus © | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Statement

- See more at: http://sd09.senate.ca.gov/contact#sthash.b9TGwJ0V.dpuf

1515 Clay Street, Ste 2202, Oakland, CA 94612
510-286-1333

District Office 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2202 Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510) 286-1333 Fax: (510) 286-3885

California State Senate Majority Caucus © | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Statement

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Visit our website.

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/FightTheVerizonTowers 

Short Video from Producer of "Mobilize" on the Passing of Berkeley's Cell Phone "Right to Know" Ordinance

Thank you Kevin Kunze for including the Cell Antenna issue and our fight!  We are very appreciative, and Thank you Ellie Marks, Executive Director of the California Brain Tumor Association,  for supporting our efforts to remove cell antennas from residential neighborhoods!

From Dr. Joel Moskowitz at saferemr.com:

Adoption of Berkeley Cell Phone "Right to Know" Ordinance

"Kevin Kunze, director of the award-winning documentary film, Mobilize, produced a short video (7:32) about the Berkeley Cell Phone "Right to Know" Ordinance which was adopted by the City Council on a unanimous vote (9-0) on May 12, 2015.

Lawrence Lessig (Harvard), Joel Moskowitz (UC Berkeley), Devra Davis (Environmental Health Trust),  and Gerard Keegan (CTIA--The Wireless Association) appear in the film."

Click on this link for the video:  http://bit.ly/Berkeleycellvote

Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig who drafted the ordinance discusses it on his blog site:

http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/118946612162/on-the-berkeley-right-to-know-ordinance

For more information about the Berkeley cell phone ordinance including links to the media coverage see my blog site:
http://bit.ly/berkeleycellordinance

--

For information about the newly released International EMF Scientist Appeal signed by almost 200 experts on electromagnetic radiation:

EMFscientist.org

--

Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., Director
Center for Family and Community Health
School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley

Electromagnetic Radiation Safety

Website:              http://www.saferemr.com
Facebook:            http://www.facebook.com/SaferEMR
News Releases:    http://pressroom.prlog.org/jmm716/
Twitter:                 @berkeleyprc

A Delay Is a Victory!

A delay is a victory! The Planning Commission almost had enough votes to deny the plan, but at the last minute asked for modifications instead, which in and of itself is historic because usually they just approve cell antenna requests.  There was surprising support on the Planning Commission, including one commissioner, Jahaziel Bonilla, who said something like, "No way I'm allowing this to be sited in a residential community until it can be proved that there is no negative health effects"!  

Another commissioner, Jahmese Myres, pulled us aside after the meeting and said "we've seen this so many times, over and over again.  You need to organize citywide and bring a lot of people to the City council and demand a sensible wireless ordinance."  

Other Commissioners didn't like the lax "alternative site analysis" that Verizon did. So Verizon has been instructed to do a better one, and they also have to make aesthetic improvements on the current proposed site, and we believe they have to do a better propagation study proving that there is a "significant gap in coverage" in our area (we don't believe there is).  Then it will go back to the Planning Commission, maybe in a month or two.  We think it'll probably pass, but maybe not!

Thank you to all the neighbors who came down to provide passionate protection of our community.  Eleven of us spoke and others gave up their their precious 2 minutes to speakers who needed them, and we needed every minute!  And thank you Deborah Yaffe for taking the lead and setting the tone of fierce defense of our neighborhood against a needless unhealthy intrusion by a corporate predator!

See what a small determined group of people can accomplish?!  

Here's a link to the video of the Planning Commission Meeting.  Go to about 1 hour 36" into it.  Our segment starts with Verizon Rep Maria Kim speaking:

Planning Commission May 6th, 2015 

Tibetan Protector-Warrior

The Planning Commission Meeting & Writing to the Planning Commission Opposing Cell Antennas @ 960 Arlington Avenue

Hello Neighbors & Friends, 

Well, its come down to this!  The Planning Commission Meeting that we've delayed for a month and a half through our democratic efforts is now upon us, this Wednesday, May 6th, at 6:00 p.m. at the Mark Dunakin Hearing Room 1, One Frank Ogawa Plaza.  

Please come if you can!  We need our neighborhood's presence to let the Planning Commission know its not ok to site Cell Antennas in our neighborhood, or any residential neighborhood.   If you don't want to speak that's ok, come anyway and sign up to speak, and then donate your two minutes, because there are several people who will need your generous donation of time to make our case before the Commission.

We need to know how many are coming and donating their time, so here's a link to a "Doodle" app so you can let us know.  Its easy and you don't have to sign up for anything:  go to this link:  https://doodle.com/p9qx4at4dzt3rae4

But even if you can't make it to the Planning Commission Meeting, or if you don't speak, please write to the Commissioners before Wednesday.  We've set up an eMail auto letter at our website.  Go to this link: http://fightthetowers.blogspot.com/p/mr.html or click on the link under Resources to your right:  "Take Action - Write to the Oakland Planning Commission."

We put alot of talking points for you there, but just pick one or two to send if you like, or write your own, then send it off.

Thanks so much!

Cell Tower Health Effects

This from Dr. Joel Moskowitz' site, saferemr.com.  I highly encourage you to check out his site. 

Greg

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Cell Tower Health Effects

Federal regulations protect the public only from the thermal risk due to short-term exposure to high intensity, cell tower radiation. The Federal regulations ignore the hundreds of studies that find harmful bio-effects from long-term exposure to non-thermal levels of cell phone radiation.

The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 does not allow communities to stop the siting of cell towers for health reasons. Nevertheless, landlords may be liable for any harm caused by cell phone radiation emitted by towers situated on their property.

Localities need to organize and change the Federal law to protect public health and wildlife from exposure to microwave radiation emitted by mobile phone base stations.

Following are some resources regarding the health effects of exposure to cell tower radiation.  I will occasionally update this page.

Reviews and Studies

B. Blake Levitt and Henry Lai. Biological effects from exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell tower base stations and other antenna arrays. Environ. Rev. 18: 369–395 (2010). doi:10.1139/A10-018 

URL: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1139/A10-018?src=recsys

Chronic Exposure Web Site. Research on mobile base stations and their impact on health.

URL: http://www.chronicexposure.org/basestations.html

Yakymenko I, Sidorik E. Risks of carcinogenesis from electromagnetic radiation of mobile telephony devices. Exp Oncol. 2010 Jul;32(2):54-60.  

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20693976

Yakymenko I, Sidorik E, Kyrylenko S, Chekhun V. Long-term exposure to microwave radiation provokes cancer growth: evidences from radars and mobile communication systems. Exp Oncol. 2011 Jun;33(2):62-70.  

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21716201

Emad F. Eskander, Selim F. Estefan, Ahmed A. Abd-Rabou. How does long term exposure to base stations and mobile phones affect human hormone profiles? Clinical Biochemistry, Volume 45, Issues 1–2, January 2012, Pages 157-161. 

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22138021

News

Joel Moskowitz. Press Release: Cell Tower Radiation Affects Wildlife: Dept. of Interior Attacks FCC. Mar 2014. 

URL: http://www.saferemr.com/2014/03/dept-of-interior-attacks-fcc-regarding.html

Ianthe Jeanne Dugan and Ryan Knutson. Cellphone Boom Spurs Antenna-Safety Worries. Wall Street Journal, Oct 2, 2014. 

URL: http://www.wsj.com/articles/cellphone-boom-spurs-antenna-safety-worries-1412293055

It Was a Beautiful Day @ Verizon Wireless Lakeshore!

The Golden Gate Neighbors protested at the Verizon Wireless store on Lakeshore today, and it was a success!  Three of us from our neighborhood were there on this beautiful Oakland day.  We reached many Oaklanders, handed out all of our fliers, talked about Verizon and the Telecoms' invasive moves into our neighborhoods and how the City is essentially handing them the keys, and we let people know about the Planning Commission meeting this Wednesday, and how we need a new sensible wireless ordinance in Oakland that protects Oaklanders from corporate intrusion into our neighborhoods which expose communities to unnecessary physical and financial risk.

One man approached us who used to work for AT&T installing and repairing cell antennas.  He pointed out how the industry regularly disregards the safety of its own employees and the public, and related a couple of illustrative experiences he had.  He said sometimes one antenna would go out  (they're usually installed in pairs or threes) on an installation and he'd  go up to fix it, but the other two were left on, exposing him to high levels of Electro-Magnetic Radiation (EMR) at close range.  He also told of being at a convention, working for AT&T there, and people weren't getting enough cell coverage so antennas were brought in, installed, and turned on without the knowledge and consent of the attendees, thereby exposing everyone to high levels of EMR.

EMR is a two-edged sword and going foward the City needs to exercise caution regarding this technology.  It is a Class 2B carcinogen, the California Medical Association recently stated that we need to take greater precautions, and the LA Firefighters Union last March won a fight to prevent Cell Antennas from being built on their 70 or so fire stations, as a precaution.   Oakland needs a Sensible Wireless Ordinance that considers the health, safety and aesthetics of our communities.