Letter to the Editor: Long Beach home values could plummet up to 35% because of 5G Cell Tower

Hello two urban girls,

Thank you for your articles about Rex Richardson and his work with Crown Castle.

Thanks to Long Beach city council representative (9th district, also vice mayor) Rex Richardson’s lobbying for the telecoms, and the Long Beach city councils unanimous 2019 vote to add a telecommunications chapter to the city code that appears to have been written by and for the telecommunications industry, I have to move out of my home, of the past 21 years.

I’m a 65 year old artist and retired college professor with partial deafness , a family history of brain cancer, medically diagnosed Electromagnetic Sensitivity (EHS) and chronic migraine disease. When my husband and I found out (this was not disclosed clearly)that a public right of way in our front yard had been targeted for a 4G/5G cell tower, 25’ from a bedroom of our home, we filed an appeal of the (already city approved) application AT&T and it’s subcontractor, Synergy Inc. had filed.

Within our appeal, my doctor had written a letter to inform the city my illnesses, especially proven EHS, constitute a valid ADA condition it is required to accommodate. He said the accommodation should be that the cell tower must be no closer than 1,000 feet from our home. The city refused, and did not suggest or offer us any alternative accommodations. It railroaded a hearing through with an employee (attorney) it had hired specifically to arbitrate in favor of the city. Not surprisingly, we lost.

So now, at this age, with 2 bad shoulders, and 5 local realtors telling us we’ll lose 20 to 35% off our homes value due to the cell tower (city code clearly states the loss is exclusively on us), we must leave our ‘forever home’ that we sank all our money into maintaining and improving, and move to a much smaller house far inland. Which will make my migraines worse, and force me to discard a third of my belongings, but at least we won’t have to be Guinea pigs for short range, untested, microwave radiation, in combination with a 4G radio transmitter 24/7/365, 25’ from our house.
Due to well documented brain injuries from close range exposure in the early 2000s, CA firefighters have state mandated protection from cell towers any closer than 200’ to a station.

Regular citizens, however, those of us without powerful lobbies, have no protection whatsoever.

The hearing officer admitted in his findings that this tower’s operation is highly likely to damage my health, that there are no currently accepted federal standards for safe operation of a 4G/5G cell tower, and that the city abruptly cut off any discussion of potential accommodations. The city said at the hearing ‘wheel chair access’ is the only ADA issue it considers valid. There are many ADA-qualified health impairments that an adjacent cell tower is likely to worsen that don’t require/encompass wheel chair access.

When the city refused to help, I wrote to the President of AT&T, who responded to my inquiry by telling me point blank that AT&T would not accommodate my disability.

Thank you for reading this.

Moira Hahn