- ALERT! Notices are being posted in the New York Post by Crown Castle and Boldyn (formerly CityBridge) to put 4G/5G antennas on utlity poles. You must respond within 30 days after the posting
to state any adverse aesthetic effects under federal law, otherwise, you will lose your chance to oppose them. See attached list.
- SUCCESS! SHPO says proposed 5G Tower in Brooklyn Navy Yard, an historic district, will have an adverse aesthetic impact.
- In case you missed it: NYT Street Wars Article of 6-10-24 on 5G Towers - please comment -- I was interviewed and quoted, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/nyregion/street-wars-new-york-city-5g-towers.html#commentsContainer. There were 257
comments. The NYT has closed its online comments but is accepting letters to the editor at letters@nytimes.com.
Please send a letter to the editor on the 2000 5G Towers slated for NYC (160 have already been constructed).
It would be great if you would write about issues that the reporter left out:
- wireless will never bridge the digital divide
- wireless health hazards / bio-effects on people / children
- 5G had no pre-market testing for safety
- environmental impacts
- fire risk
- security risk / surveillance
- the fact that the FCC has failed to comply with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals mandate for the FCC to review
its limits in light of the 11,000 pages of science submitted in its docket
3. More opposition -- Avenue C Association in MCB3 https://evgrieve.com/2024/05/block-association-asking-for-removal-of.html
4. Status on BxCB12
5. NYS Releases Bead PreQualifications https://broadbandbreakfast.com/new-york-releases-bead-prequalification-applications/; see model language to include in these prequalification applications at https://thenationalcall.org/resources/ under the fold "Additional Valuable Resources" and click on "Suggest BEAD Comments to Your State."
6. Sec 106 Review -- NYC Historic Preservation -- Updates
WE NEED MORE CONSULTING PARTIES! THE GENERAL PUBLIC CAN ALSO COMMENT. See attached document entitled "Section 106 Review ... " for instructions. Deadlines to file comments on many 5G Towers have already passed and others are fast approaching. YOU NEED TO
ACT NOW!
a. Your Sec 106 participation is crucial from community boards and civic associations in Washington Heights, Lower East Side, Jamaica, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island. YOU'RE GETTING CLOBBERED WITH 5G TOWERS. The NYS Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has not objected to
Towers in many locations. Those are missed opportunities.
7. Misinformation from CityBridge / Boldyn on the harms of wireless radiation and towers. Pamphlets have been published that pushes false information in an effort to densify our streets with wireless radiation.
8. 311 Complaint Campaign - CALL 311 TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE 5G TOWERS. We need an official city record of complaints that city officials cannot ignore.
9. Letters to the Editor
See examples:
10. Federal bills (70+) - will take away local control. These telecom bills have passed the House which we need to stop in the Senate (see attached Federal Bills Passed for bill descriptions):
HR 1339 4-26-23
HR
1353 4-26-23
HR 682 7-25-23
HR 1752 3-11-24
HR 6492 4-9-24 Fed Omnibus Bill to carpet natl parks w/ cell towers (incorporates S.2018)
HR
4510 5-15-24 NTIA Auth Act - subordinates Pentagon and other fed agencies to NTIA which will filter info to the FCC; cybersecurity study but expressly excludes 5G (incorporates HR1123)
HR 1513 5-14-24 passed out of committee, ready to be voted by the House
Many other bills are now moving in Congress. These bills will eliminate our local control over wireless permitting/placement, prohibit moratoria and eliminate environmental and historical preservation reviews. See below for federal bills update.
- SET UP MEETINGS NOW WITH: Reps. Espaillat, Jeffries, Clarke,
Malliotakis, Meeks, Meng, Velazquez, Suozzi, Goldman, Torres. Let me know when you do. Unfortunately, our NY delegation is voting for all of the bad bills. Call them today to schedule a meeting.
- We are setting up meetings with Senators Schumer and Gillebrand.
- See new voting guide at https://thenationalcall.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/voting-guide-federal-bills-3-31-24-1.pdf and att'd fact sheets and https://ehtrust.org/congress/
- See Congressional briefing providing a comprehensive overview of the issues. https://thenationalcall.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Congressional-Briefing-5-19-24-FINAL.pdf
- Federal Bills committee of the National Call for Safe Technology meets every Thursday, 4-6pm ET; let me know if you're interested.
11. National Call for Safe Technology - Sign up to connect with other advocates nationwide. We meet every 2nd and 4th Friday; to sign up, email me or go to thenationalcall.org.
12. Defend our Landlines! Verizon has been retiring its copper lines in NYC for several years. That means if you can't make a 911 call if your cell service goes down. That recently happened in CA that left over
70,000 stranded. Contact your City Council member and your US Representative.
US government says that AT&T paid bribes to state of Illinois to allow them to eliminate landlines
13. Other Federal Bills: Our NY delegation is
supporting bad bills, please contact your Representative today:
- HR 4510 - NTIA Reauthorization Act - vote postponed - ask your US Rep for amendments (requires cybersecurity study but expressly excludes 5G) - see below
- HR 3294 - Nydia Velazquez sponsor
- HR 5919 and HR 4235 - Lawler sponsor
- HR 1123 - passed House, voted by Nadler, Lawler, Goldman, Jeffries, Malliotakis, Espaillat, Clarke, Meeks, Meng, Velazquez, Torres, Ocasio-Cortez - Now included in HR
4510 NTIA Reauth, ASK: must amend to include 5G in cybersecurity study with required Homeland Security input
- HR 1353 - passed House, voted by ditto
- HR 1339 - passed House, voted by ditto
- HR 6492 - passed House, co-sponsored by Lawler
- Every success we've had in NYC - disapprovals and moratoria on 5G Towers - are expressly prohibited under HR 3557, and our success in envt'l and historic preservation reviews will
be virtually eliminated under HR 3557, HR 4141, etc.
- HR 6492 will carpet our national parks with cell towers, which do catch on fire. CA had 4 major fires from faulty telecom eqpt - Woolsey Fire (2018) caused $6 bil in damages, 295,000 pp evacuated, 100,000 acres of land destroyed and several deaths. See below the fold for "Cell Towers & Fires" at https://thenationalcall.org/advocacy-and-action/.