Following a city council hearing that resulted in a vote of 3-3 (our appeal was not denied), on October 28, 2022, the city of Long Beach California, through its outside counsel, requested that we (minkasmommy and her husband) sign a “tolling agreement”. This creates a time-out between now and March 1, 2023, during which we would not initiate litigation, while AT&T explores a potential alternative site to install its cell tower. Our attorney recommended that we sign this agreement, as it has many benefits and no downside. If AT&T can’t find an alternative site, and still insists on our address, we can sue in March, the delay would not affect the statute of limitations. Please wish us luck. We’d be relieved if AT&T finds a less invasive location for this tower, such as on the edge of a parking lot, or adjacent to a flood channel, not next to someone’s house.
Last year I was diagnosed as ‘Electromagnetic Sensitive’ (EMS), also referred to as ‘Electro-Hypersensitive’ (EHS), by my medical doctor of two decades. I’d suffered from chronic migraine headaches and ear pain for fifteen years, which disappeared when we disconnected WiFi and an Edison ‘Smart Meter’ (cellular data transmitting meter) in, and on, our home.
Soon thereafter, my husband and I received a furtive written notice from ‘Synergy’, an AT&T subcontractor firm we’d never heard of, informing us that our address would soon be the site of an AT&T 4G/5G cell tower, to be installed in our front yard, 25’ from our home.
We appealed the decision. Within our appeal, my doctor informed the city that my neurological and ear pain is exacerbated by exposure to electromagnetic and microwave radiation, which will occur in close proximity to my home, 24/7/365, if this cell tower is installed.
He explained that my illness is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) qualified, recognized by state and federal courts, and recommended as an accommodation that the tower be located at least 1,000’ from our home.
The city and AT&T refused, railroaded a hearing through and denied our appeal.
The Hearing Officer hired by the city denied our appeal, but noted the following in his findings:
“The evidence sufficiently established to this hearing officer that RF emissions may and can injured animals and humans and may very well cause further injury to Appellant Hahn if the WCF is installed. These articles [referring to published science submitted to the record as well as the judgement of the EHT et al. v FCC case] call into question the scientific and medical legitimacy of the legally controlling Federal Communications Commission regulations cited and relied upon jointly by the city and AT&T here as to what is safe and acceptable RF emission exposure levels to which the public in general and Appellant Hahn in particular can and should be allowed to be exposed , especially where, as here, a WCF is projected to be erected a few yards from Appellants home.”
So now my husband and I, ages 66 and 67, semi-retired, must move from our ‘forever’ home of the last 21 years, to facilitate a cell tower my doctors have warned me will further damage my health.
Six local realtors wrote letters in support of our appeal, describing our probable loss of property value, due to this tower, at 20%-35%. The city code decrees that this loss is exclusively to be borne by the homeowner; neither the city nor the telecom will bear any exposure.
In California, professional fire fighters successfully lobbied to protect themselves from cellular radiation. A 2018 senate bill ensures that cell towers and antennas can’t be installed within 200’ of a fire station. They MAY be installed, however, on schools, nursing homes, day care facilities, hospitals and churches. In other words, ordinary citizens, without powerful lobbies, including our most vulnerable citizens: children, the elderly and the disabled, enjoy no such protections.
We have been granted a second public hearing, this time before an elected body, the Long Beach City Council. The council has, to date, unanimously supported the telecommunications industry, every step of the way, however, rather than the concerns of appellants (to date, all Long Beach citizens’ appeals of residence-adjacent cell tower construction have been denied) and has not, as of yet, scheduled our hearing.
My husband and I are truly devastated. We are planning to move, to protect my health, on my doctor’s recommendation, but on the verge of a recession, during the worst inflation and highest housing costs in four decades, this story won’t end happily for us. We can’t afford to continue to live in our current county, or surrounding counties. Welcome to America in 2022. A government owned by special interests and corporations. No fair shake for tax paying homeowners, or for any other decent, valued, law abiding citizens.