Resistance against wireless internet tower successful

Posted by: Susan Clarke

Fri May 16, 2008 10:17 am (PDT)

NOTICE ALSO 2ND ARTICLE, BELOW, WHERE THE PROPERTY OWNER NO LONGER WANTS A MICROWAVE TOWER! SUCCESS AGAINST THE BIG CORPORADOS! LOGON & COMMENT!

Towering Hazard Wireless antenna opponents worry about microwave harm

APRIL 23, 2008

BY PETER WOLLHEIM

It's not lack of a signal that has one Boise neighborhood alarmed, it's concern about what those signals are doing to their bodies and brains. Residents surrounding Longmont Street and Broadway Avenue are mounting a campaign against a proposed wireless Internet antenna that Clearwire wants to erect on top of the Tates Rent building at 1502 Broadway Ave. A formal proposal for the 60-foot tower was presented to the City of Boise's Planning and Zoning Commission on March 27.

The antenna would replace a 50-foot wooden tower already on the building. The concern is not just about a possible eyesore but the potential health hazards. Talk of a second tower the company wants to build on top of the Schuck's Auto Supply store at 2213 Broadway Ave. increases the worry.

The towers would, in effect, sandwich Garfield Elementary School between two sources of microwave radiation.

"I'm old enough to remember when they didn't think lead, asbestos, radiation or smoking was bad for you either," said Barbara Robinson, who is leading the effort to stop the towers.

Read More...

http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A313083

-- Peter Wollheim is a Boise State University professor.

Half Mast Half of wireless project approved, but it may not matter

MAY 14, 2008

BY PETER WOLLHEIM

While a neighborhood group fighting the installation of two wireless towers is planning to appeal the approval of half of the project, it may be a moot point. Not only has the business that was supposed to house the tower backed out, but the tower owner is reportedly making new plans.

Clearwire Inc. was given a conditional use permit on May 5 by the Boise Planning and Zoning Commission to erect a 75-foot antenna complex on top of Tates Rents on Broadway Avenue.

The commission unanimously rejected a similar application for a Schucks Auto Parts site further east, stating that the pole was "too tall, too close to the street and not compatible with other uses in the neighborhood," according to Barbara Robinson, one of the leaders in the growing movement to block the masts (BW, News, "Towering Hazard," April 23, 2008).

But in response to health concerns from neighbors, Tates Rents is reconsidering allowing the tower on its building.

Read More...

http://us.mc552.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?.rand=585746676&uc=1