United States: How one California couple beat the future at their doorstep: a 5G cell site

How one California couple beat the future at their doorstep: a 5G cell site
A sudden shift of momentum in a long conflict between industry and activists.

by Grant Hill, whyy.org, 31 March 2023

(Photo): Moira Hahn and Mark Hotchkiss live in Long Beach, California, just near a streetlight that had been previously proposed for a 5G cell site. (Courtesy of Moira Hahn)

Not everybody wants a 5G cell site on a 30-foot pole in front of their home. This is the story of Moira Hahn and Mark Hotchkiss of Long Beach, California, who appealed successfully against the permit for the 5G cell site.

Extract:

"Hahn had long suffered from serious migraines that forced her into retirement after years of teaching art at a nearby college.

In the days after they received the notice in the mail [informing them that the lamppost outside their home would soon be equipped with a wireless transmission facility], Hahn decided to consult her doctor about her migraines again. It was during that consultation that he suggested her migraines could be related to something called electromagnetic hypersensitivity, or EHS.

“My doctor started to say, ‘What about t Wi-Fi? You know, that could cause it. Try to get rid of all your cellular stuff, get rid of the walk around phones.’” Hahn said.

EHS is a little known, under-researched, and controversial health condition where people experience reactions to certain types of electromagnetic radiation, especially the kind that’s emitted by cell phone towers, or Wi-Fi.

Hahn looked it up online.

“There were quite a number of articles that said it’s not real or it’s psychological,” said Hahn. ”People experience symptoms, but it could be from something else.”

So the couple decided to run a test of their own. They returned to the old hard-wired system in the house and went back to using a corded phone. No more wireless internet or devices either.

Within a matter of hours, Hahn said her symptoms nearly disappeared. The migraines completely vanished after the electric company switched out the smart meter for an older model, she said.

But now, this proposed 5G cell site, just about 25 feet from the window where she painted, seemed to threaten her future wellbeing.

So the two rushed to file an appeal, and included a letter from Hahn’s doctor that explained her sensitivity to cell phone radiation.

She knew how it looked; the convenient timing of her diagnosis. But it didn’t matter to her.

“I didn’t care what people thought. I knew what I had experienced,” Hahn said. They found an attorney who could help them pro bono and soon their appeal was ready to file.

“I remember Mark and I rushing over to City Hall about 4 o’clock on a Friday to get it in by the deadline. And it was all locked up and [we were] banging on the glass until a security guard came and then being allowed in and getting a stamped receipt for it,” said Hahn. “And that’s when it all started.”

A city employee told Hahn not to get her hopes up. The way the city code was written, almost no one beats these things.

“He says, ‘I think only one person had ever beaten one of these, and she proved that she was in the historic district. And the code said that if it’s in a historic district, it can’t be erected. So she won,’” Hahn said.

What’s more, a prominent city council member also happened to be a registered lobbyist for one the largest communications infrastructure companies in the country – builders of cell sites just like the one proposed for their street light out front.

The couple was undeterred. As Hahn prepped for her appeal hearing, she kept researching.

“Tracking down experts, asking questions, seeing who we could get on as an expert witness, doing research, finding out what’s happening in other communities, what strategies did they use?” Hahn said.

She quickly discovered that the politics of cell phones, towers, and street poles extended way beyond city limits, and decades into the past..."

Read the full article here:
https://whyy.org/segments/california-couple-beat-future-at-their-doorstep-5g-cell-tower/