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.