The publication called Westview News has published an article documenting very high exposure to RF-EMR in an apartment complex in the East Village. This is a story about the predicament of Teresa Mazur, who has been suffering from the exposure to exceedingly high levels of microwave radiation, and whose pleas for help have been totally ignored. See the article here:
Hopefully, this article will lead to a clamoring for Teresa and residents with similar symptoms throughout NYC to be heard and for the wireless telecom providers to comply with the Communications Act of 1934 provision on power levels.
47 U.S. Code § 324 – Use of minimum power In all circumstances, except in case of radio communications or signals relating to vessels in distress, all radio stations, including those owned and operated by the United States, shall use the minimum amount of power necessary to carry out the communication desired. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 324, 48 Stat. 1091.)
Note: wireless antennas are basically radio stations that transmit data over radio frequencies.
Please forward this far and wide. Also, please send a note to the publisher expressing thanks and support for printing such an important article. If you have or know others with typical exposure symptoms such as Teresa has had, please include that in your message. Email it to gcapsis@gmail.com or call 212 924 5718.
that allows you to keep or get returned an analog meter
Time to increase our voices at the
Senate Consumer Protection Committee!
5/16/23
Dear Friends of Safe Technology and Utility Metering,
We have gotten word that Senator Harckham’s bill S5632 that provides for consumer protection and utility meter choice might be coming up for a vote in Senator Kevin Thomas’ Committee on Consumer Protection very soon.
We need to call and write the members of the Consumer Protection Committee and let them know that we have a real interest in getting this bill passed!
Also it is important to mention that there is an alternate bill S404 introduced by Senator Kevin Parker (once again) which offers something of a fake ‘opt out,’ that still allows for a 1-way transmitting meter, and refers to toothless FCC and ANSI standards, which never created standards specific for digital meters. See NYSUMA’s very helpful comparison below you can also share with your legislators:
This watered down bill procured a companion bill–rather miraculously quickly–in the Assembly, sponsored by Energy Committee Chair Didi Barrett, co-sponsored by AM Rebecca Seawright, AM William Conrad, and AM John T. McDonald. We need to warn the representatives that this is not much of a remedy at all, and underlines the need for S5632 all the more.
Another thing to note is that two Senators on the Consumer Protection Committee (indicated below) are also on the Energy & Telecommunications Committee and perhaps have a conflict of interest between the two bills, one favoring industry, and the other consumers.
There is another deceptive bill that is sitting in the Energy & Telecommunications Committee, and that is, S5287, which calls for the utilities to study the potential health effects of smart meters, introduced by Senator Kevin Parker and co-sponsored by Senator Pete Harckham, who we are thankful for his S5632 Opt Out Bill, and Senator Zellnor Myrie, who is on the Consumer Protection Committee. Although we can see why they think this sounds like a good idea, the utilities have not proven themselves to be honest about their research and simply cannot be trusted to do due diligence. And we already have decades of peer-reviewed research on microwave radiation, as well as the more recent New Hampshire Commission’s Report.
Please take 10-15 minutes to call state legislators listed below.
Sample script to promote S5632:
“Please help S5632 get through the Consumer Protection Committee right away. We’ve been waiting over 10 years for effective regulations on smart meters and this is the best yet. It allows for “analog choice”. Please co-sponsor it and help get it passed into law in the remaining weeks of the legislative session.”
Sample script to oppose S404 and S2587:
“Please oppose S404. It falls far short of what’s needed for effective protections on the many pitfalls of smart meters, which could all be avoided. Also, please oppose S2587 which calls for studies on smart meters. This is completely unnecessary because we have decades of peer-reviewed research on the dangers of microwave radiation, and harms caused by smart meters. New Hampshire already did a major study which resulted in comprehensive guidelines. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. “
COMMITTEE CHAIR Kevin Thomas (D) DISTRICT 6 CONTACT SENATOR DISTRICT OFFICE 990 Stewart Ave., Suite LL45A Garden City, NY 11530 Phone: (516) 739-1700 Fax: (516) 747-7430
RANKING MEMBER Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R, C) DISTRICT 9 ALBANY OFFICE Legislative Office Building, Room 415 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2400 Fax: 518-426-6780
DISTRICT OFFICE 55 Front Street, Suites 1 & 2, Rockville Centre, NY 11570 Phone: 516-766-8383 Fax: 516-766-8011
EMAIL ADDRESS: canzoneri@nysenate.gov
Samra G. Brouk (D, WF) DISTRICT 55 DISTRICT OFFICE 274 N. Goodman Street Suite B127 Rochester, NY 14607 Phone: 585-223-1800
ALBANY OFFICE 188 State Street Legislative Office Building, Room 812 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2215
EMAIL ADDRESS: brouk@nysenate.gov
Kristen Gonzalez — also on the Energy & Telecommunications Committee (D, WF) DISTRICT 59 ALBANY OFFICE Legislative Office Building, Room 817 198 State St Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-3250 Fax: 518-426-6785
DISTRICT OFFICE Phone: (718) 765-6674 EMAIL ADDRESS: gonzalez@nysenate.gov
Brian Kavanagh — also on the Energy & Telecommunications Committee (D) DISTRICT 27 MANHATTAN OFFICE 250 Broadway Room 2011 New York, NY 10007 Phone: 212-298-5565 Fax: 212-431-7836
BROOKLYN OFFICE 209 Joralemon Street, Suite 300 Brooklyn Borough Hall Brooklyn, NY 11201 Phone: 718-875-1517
ALBANY OFFICE Legislative Office Building Room 512 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2625 Fax: 518-426-6956
EMAIL ADDRESS: kavanagh@nysenate.gov
Zellnor Myrie — also a co-sponsor of problematic S5287, which calls for biased utilities to study health effectsof smart meters (D) DISTRICT 20 ALBANY OFFICE 188 State Street., Legislative Office Bldg. Room806 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2410 Fax: 518-426-6856
DISTRICT OFFICE 1077 Nostrand Ave. Ground Floor Brooklyn, NY 11225 Phone: 718-284-4700 Fax: 718-282-3585 Office Hours: Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm
EMAIL ADDRESS: myrie@nysenate.gov
Bill Weber (R, C) DISTRICT 38 ALBANY OFFICE Legislative Office Building, Room 504 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2991 Fax: 518-426-6737
DISTRICT OFFICE 163 Airport Executive Park Nanuet , NY 10954 Phone: 845-623-3627 Fax: 845-425-4617
Since 2013, there have been at least 5 attempts to pass smart meter regulation in New York state, but none have advanced beyond committee discussion, and none would have offered sufficient protection to the public. However, NY senate member Pete Harckham has introduced S. 5632 that does offer the best protections we’ve seen to date. He is currently the Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Conservation.
The state legislature is in session now through the first week of June. However, after early May it’s next to impossible to get anything through due to tons of administrative backlog. So the actions detailed below need to happen now, otherwise we’ll have to wait until 2024!
Here is some history and perspective. Since around 2009, utilities have been on a mission to do away with reliable analog meters that have been in use for 100 years, and install digital meters that communicate through pulsed electromagnetic frequencies which are basically microwaves. The utilities send a notice with a sentence at the end informing us we can “opt-out”, but we’ll be charged a fee of $9.50 per month. Most people don’t bother reading that far. For those who do opt out, rather than just leave their analog meters the utilities then install a 1-way digital meter, which still emits levels of microwave frequencies that can sicken people.
Essentially, S. 5632 offers “analog choice”, meaning that when a utility notifies us they will be installing digital smart meters, we would have to agree to it in writing. If we choose to avoid having these sources of hazardous emissions in our homes, we can opt-out and keep our analog meters without any fees being imposed. Also, if we already had a smart meter installed, we can have it replaced with an analog meter. By the way, if passed this will also apply to digital water and gas meters.
While this is all positive, the bill does fall short in a few important ways. Specifically, there’s a need for protections for people living in larger residential buildings, small businesses, and neighborhoods where smart meters are mounted on exterior walls. The photo above and below show why.
So here is a 3-step call to action that you can do in 15 minutes or less.
STEP 1
This is Civics 101, folks. We need to lobby officials who we elected to represent our interests. Find your NY state senator. Go to:
Write down their name, phone number, and email in a place you can easily find.
STEP 2
Call Sen. Peter Harckham’s office at (518) 455-2340. A staff member will answer. Convey your appreciation and support for S. 5632. Also, convey the following both by phone and email:
1. Please add provisions to S. 5632 to protect residents of large residential buildings, as well as small businesses. If necessary, introduce a separate bill with these provisions:
2. Allow small businesses to have analog meter choice.
3. Allow owners of multi-family homes to have analog meter choice for their entire building, including hallways and any other common area.
4. Require that residential buildings have smart meter covers installed. The cost will be paid by the Biden Infrastructure Bill and the utilities. If smart meters are in a basement and adjacent to another living space or residential property, they shall have shielding from behind to prevent microwave frequencies from leaking into those living spaces.
5. Buildings with digital meters installed on their exterior shall be required to have meter covers made of protective shielding material.
6. The utilities reference to compliance with FCC guidelines from 1996 are inapplicable today due to the 9th District Appeals Court decision on Aug. 13, 2019 establishing that the FCC’s refusal to update their guidelines was “arbitrary and capricious”.
STEP 3
This is absolutely urgent! Contact the Chair of the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Conservation, Deborah Glick at https://www.nyassembly.gov/mem/Deborah-J-Glick. Ask her to submit a companion bill for S.5632 to regulate smart meters, following the same script as for your Senator above.
Contact your Assembly member (see link above to locate your member) with the following message:
There is a bill in the Senate with regulations that protect the public from digital smart meters. See S. 5632. While this is a good first step, there is a need for legislation that contains these additional protections:
Repeat 1 through 6 above.
Understanding the Depth of the Problem
We appreciate you reading this far. Please take a few more minutes to gain a bit more knowledge on the problems posed by smart meters, and how existing policy is an affront to our rights to health, privacy and property.
The utilities have imposed a harmful, unnecessary technology upon the public using very misleading and deceptive methods. The public needs to understand the following:
1. Analog meters have many benefits over digital smart meters
2. Smart meters inflate monthly bills, and utilities conceal how they do so.
3. Smart meters use electric current, therefore, there is an increase in energy use which is an additional drain on the environment. They literally worsen the harmful effects of climate change.
4. The cost of electricity required to power smart meters is deliberately hidden from the public. Analog meters are mechanical, requiring no additional electric current.
5. Smart meters are unsafe due to lack of grounding and filtering,
6. Smart meters compromise privacy and are vulnerable to hacking,
7. Ultimately analog meters have none of these risks.
8. Smart meters have a 6-7 year lifespan, then must be serviced or replaced. Analog meters last forever.
9. There are no real benefits of smart meters to utility customers.
Lastly, please spread the word far and wide! We can do this!
“…once they’re installed we can’t go back, so we need to make sure…that there’s not going to be any harm to any of our community members, we owe them that.”
Antonella Di Saverio, Chair of the Environment & Sanitation Committee, QCB1
The Environment/Sanitation and Transportation Committees of Queens Community Board 1 held a joint meeting on January 25, 2023 to review a proposal for six Link5G poles in their district. The colossal 32′ tall 5G and public WiFi poles have been gaining in controversy across the city. After the presentation by New York’s Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) and industry consortium CityBridge, three experts were given more time than usual to speak in opposition. There was also explosive testimony from Police Officer and 9/11 Rescue Worker George Sinopidis, who was injured after wireless infrastructure was placed outside of his home in Astoria, Queens.
“If anyone tells you that low-level wireless radiation is harmless they are either woefully misinformed or putting it politely they are not being truthful.”
Professor Kent Chamberlin, PhD, former New Hampshire Commissioner on Health Impacts of 5G
While CityBridge and OTI gave assurances that the FCC handles all health and safety monitoring, Ms. Scarato and Professor Chamberlin both explained the weakness of the FCC’s oversight, including the decision not to update its 25 year old guidelines, which the 9th Circuit District Court had ruled ‘arbitrary and capricious’ in 2021. The FCC still has not returned to the court with a reasoned explanation, which shows just how shaky a foundation our future wireless utopias are being built upon.
It was like all our freedoms were taken away with these towers…like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It just didn’t make any sense.
George Sinopidis, New York City Transit Police Officer
Mr. Sinopidis’ testimony was a powerful revelation of how a person’s life can be devastated by the arbitrary placement of an antenna across from one’s property, and a reminder of how health is still our greatest asset.
Ms. Wilkens presented a thorough argument on why the city’s hands are not tied, as is so often claimed, and underscored the dismantling of any semblance of environmental review in New York City.
A return to completing the project of fiber to the premises that Verizon had left partially done was recommended by all three experts who had come to speak in opposition. Its phenomenally lower energy footprint was also noted.
Ms. Scarato re-iterated how important it was for the city to make public the information on what kind of antennas, power levels, and modulations will be in use, as there is no way to assess their safety without this data.
The Committees voted for a disapproval of the poles until further information can be obtained.
There was not enough time for CityBridge or OTI to answer all of the questions that were raised, but they will be back at the Full Board meeting on February 21 where the issue will be visited again, and where the public will have a chance to weigh in.
We are focusing our Link5G outreach on Washington Heights and Inwood this week. Please do attend as many of these community board committee meetings listed below as you can, especially if you live in the area, as your opinion means more if you are a constituent. And please do pass the schedule on to your neighbors and friends. We are not sure if we will be able to get more extensive time to present on the issue, but we would like to maintain a presence and at least be able to bring it up in public comment sessions. Double check at the community board https://cbmanhattan.cityofnewyork.us/cb12/ to see if one has to do an extra sign up for public comment, and let them know your thoughts.
Here is an article about a pole that was miraculously halted on Fort Washington and 190th Street, giving us hope that poles can be stopped, even long after the official public comment period has ended:
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — The installation of a 32-foot 5G pole in Washington Heights has been paused after residents spoke out about the installation to a local elected official.
Uptown Council Member Carmen De La Rosa reached out to the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation about pausing the installation of one of the internet-bringing towers at 689 Fort Washington Ave., near West 190th Street.
Strangely, the pole that was halted on Fort Washington Avenue is not on OTI’s official list of new permit applications below. Is this because it was on the site of an old pay phone? Ask the Community Board!
5030 BROADWAY
500 WEST 211TH STREET
408 WEST 207 STREET
3809 10 AVENUE
2500 AMSTERDAM AVENUE
401 West 203rd Street
4119 BROADWAY
302 DYCKMAN STREET
NY4WT
* Please let us know if you are a constituent or if you plan to attend!
Queens CB1 — the Community Board representing Astoria, parts of Long Island City, and Woodside — will be hosting a very special meeting on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, 6:30pm EST. The Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) and CityBridge will be presenting on Link5G, the latest wireless infrastructure rollout. Three experts will present the opposing view. There will also be important testimony from a community resident who was injured from wireless infrastructure placed outside of his house.
Featured guest speakers include:
Theodora Scarato, Environmental Health Trust
Kent Chamberlin, former NH Commissioner on health impacts of 5G, Chair Emeritus, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of New Hampshire
Odette Wilkens, Esq., Wired Broadband, Inc., a nonprofit
We hope you can attend, take advantage of this important discussion, and spread the word!
We are told this is an informational meeting to educate the Committee members. The public will have a chance to comment at the Full Board meeting on February 21 where OTI/CityBridge will again be presenting.
Please see the zoom meeting information below:
CB1, Queens is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom Meeting
Topic: CB1, Queens Environmental/Sanitation and Transportation Joint Committees Meeting
Date/Time: January 25, 2023 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
NYC’s Office of Technology and Innovation is busy making presentations to community boards around the city touting the giant 5G cell towers. So far 3 community boards have voted for moratoria and 1 has disapproved.
As constituents of your respective community board districts, you can make public comments during the meetings (usually 2-3 mins) that will determine how your CBs will vote.
The CB2 district consists of: NoHo, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Chinatown and Gansevoort Market.
Tomorrow, Tues, Jan 17 at 6pm, CB2 will be hearing a presentation from OTI on the 5G towers. They will have a public comment period — don’t know if it will precede OTI’s presentation or be after the presentation. If you live in the CB2 district, or know of anyone who does, please forward this email to them. Your voice and their voices are important and crucial, and the community boards are listening. This is our chance.
An added note of encouragement, please do see the front page cover story on the topic at WestView News by our very own Jill McManus: https://westviewnews.org/
Also please do use the attached flier if you happen to be in the neighborhood tomorrow. Bulletin boards, health food stores, anywhere you think people would want to know!
Please let us know if you or others will be attending the meeting.
Please join us for the Health & Environment Committee Meeting of Manhattan’s Community Board 9 – West Harlem, who have kindly set aside some time in their agenda for discussion of the Link5G poles this Monday evening, January 9, 2023, 6:30pm.
We are lucky to have Odette Wilkens of Wired Broadband who will give an overview of what is happening in New York at this moment, and we are especially grateful to have Theodora Scarato of Environmental Health Trust to be addressing the science, health and environmental aspects.
Following will be a Q&A, with an opportunity to raise your hand and join in the conversation as well. It would be great to hear your voices. Please do pass this on to anyone who wants to know about the Link5G poles or is connected to the neighborhood.
With very many thanks,
New Yorkers 4 Wired Tech
Manhattan Community Board 9 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: MCB9 – Health & Environment Committee Meeting Time: Jan 9, 2023 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 813 9974 2526 Passcode: 368755 One tap mobile +16465189805,,81399742526# US (New York) +19292056099,,81399742526# US (New York)
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New Yorkers 4 Wired Tech 