By —Tom Tracy
Sometimes the tide of a civic battle is turned not by protests or petitions, but by sloppy paperwork. That appeared to be the case Friday in St. Anselm’s ongoing fight against a cell phone tower expected to be placed atop 8300 4th Avenue, just 50 feet away from children attending the parish school. Residents in opposition to the proposed plan said representatives of those who were going to build the tower for Sprint/Nextel and were ultimately handed a stop work order in November went to the Department of Buildings to get the order lifted Friday, only to be sent packing by department heads. The reason was sloppy paperwork, or lack thereof, according to insiders, who said that the Department of Buildings would not accept their verbal proposal to “make good” on the initial complaints about the antenna— least until their proposal was offered in writing along with the appropriate paperwork. Since they weren’t armed with such material then, the entire issue was postponed until January 23. By that time, their initial permit to put the antenna on top of the building would have expired. “That means they are going to have to re-apply for a permit and start the process all over again,” said Chris Proscia, the father of a child at St. Anselm’s school who is spearheading the fight against the tower. The process, Proscia said happily, could take weeks. He and other residents initially helped bring the stop work order against Sprint/Nextel after finding a discrepancy in their initial permit. The nagging problem boils down to the fact that the antenna, generator and repeater building will be bigger than what’s indicated on the permit. Proscia said they are relieved that the ongoing fight against the tower has found another reprieve. For months, residents have been protesting the construction of the antenna, claiming that the radiofrequency radiation emitted by it could be harmful to their children. Officials at Spring/Nextel continue to contend that there are absolutely no studies that show that the towers are harmful. While Friday’s stay of execution is considered a victory by some, residents realize that the ongoing battle against Sprint/Nextel will continue. “The fight goes on,” said City Councilman Vincent Gentile. “By this point, Sprint/Nextel must know that we mean business, and that the safety of our children won’t take a backseat to anything.” “It’s a long struggle,” said State Senator Marty Golden. “And the public relations people at Nextel are doing a very poor job, because people in this community are adamant that they don’t want it.” “It’s beyond discussion,” Golden continued. “The people do not want the cell phone tower and are very upset about the unprofessional way that they brought this to the community.”
