2008-11-24 TCROWN - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

BLANCATO: Thank you. Thank you very much for hearing our testimony today. I appreciate the Commission’s time. My residence is 300 feet away from this facility. I was not notified by Crown Castle that they were expanding their, when they were expanding their facility initially. When they initially came into our neighborhood, it was just one pole and Verizon was the only carrier, and we really had no problems with that. Then they had an amendment to increase the size of the pole and offer more providers to the facility, which is common practices – I’m learning. But currently I represent some other people who couldn’t be here today. I have a couple of letters that I’ll read as written testimony, and photos of the impingement of the viewplane of other residences in the area. Let’s see. I’ve resided in the area for twelve years. I have a small rental unit there that a renter had to leave because she had spells of dizziness and sleeplessness and she attributed that to the cell phone towers. I know that the Commission can’t make any recommendations because of health, but I did some research and there are stacks of information that speak to the hazards of cell phone towers. I’ve got one quickly here that I’d like to read. I know you guys want to break for lunch and we want to get out here, too, but I think it’s important that this be addressed as well. “Biological effects from exposure to low level radio frequency microwave radiation have been recognized as markers of adverse health effects. Internationally acknowledged experts have shown that radio frequency microwave radiation transmissions of the type used in digital cellular antennas and phones can have critical effects on cell cultures, animals and humans. Cell phone and cell phone tower radiation stresses our cells, releasing DNA-damaging free radicals and stress proteins that can mitigate through the open blood brain barrier and cause degenerative damage in the brain – a biophysicist and professor emeritus of Harvard University. Because stress proteins are involved in a progression of a number of diseases, heavy daily cell phone use could lead to greater incidents of disorders such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.” So not to bore you with the stacks of medical information about the dangers – and we all use cell phones, I use them – but this facility is very close to our residences. Initially when they started out, there was cow pastures; it was a very rural area. Now it’s become a neighborhood and there are multiple houses that are very close to this tower and this facility. Let’s see. As I said, I was not notified by Crown Castle; they neglected to notice myself or the McCulloughs who are our neighbor that they wanted to do an amendment. It does impact my viewplane. I’ve called Crown Castle numerous times to request an engineer to come out to show me with a meter that this tower is not in fact emitting excessive radio frequency waves, and they’ve neglected to do that. My renter who moved away had purchased a meter, and showed me that all around our area there were excessive levels of radio frequency waves in our particular area. So I am just going on the record: If the Planning Commission and the Planning Department are truly stewards of the aina and represent the public it serves, then not only should Crown Castle’s amendment to their Special Permit No. 1191 be denied, but I am also advocating a relocation of Crown Castle’s facility to another less-populated area. So that’s it. Thank you for your time. EXHIBIT D 4