On the very night the Berkeley City Council enacted a 45-day moratorium on the installation of cellular antennas, the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center independently enacted its own moratorium.
A permanent one.
With Tuesday’s 12-0 vote by its board of directors, the JCC officially declined an offer made by Sprint earlier this year to install a pair of antennas on the grounds of the North Berkeley center.
JCC Executive Director Joel Bashevkin said that although feedback from JCC members on the proposed antennas was “mixed,” there was enough “community concern” to sway the board.
In discussions with Sprint, the company was told from the beginning that community sentiment had to be gauged before the JCC would sign an agreement, Bashevkin added. “All the way through, we were very, very clear [with Sprint]. I’d say they’re disappointed, but not surprised.”
Along with Sprint, the JCC hired an independent radio frequency engineer to measure the neighborhood’s exposure to radioactivity from cellular antennas.
The engineer found that the land in the JCC’s North Berkeley vicinity was exposed at a level 400 times lower than the Federal Communications Commission-mandated safety threshold. The findings were discussed at a Dec. 13 community meeting, but they apparently could not allay the general uncertainty over the effects of long-term cellular phone usage and exposure.
“A majority of our preschool families weighed in,” said Bashevkin. “Everyone has taken the time to look at the information and analysis. It has not been an arbitrary or knee-jerk response.”
The JCC board’s vote came several hours before the Berkeley City Council approved a 45-day moratorium on the construction of cellular antennas. Although concerns about health do not give the city the authority to regulate antenna implementation, it can prevent their installation on aesthetic grounds.
While the moratorium is not designed to nix the completion of antenna projects already in the works, Miriam Hawley, City Council member for the JCC’s northeast Berkeley region, said she did not believe the JCC’s antenna proposal was far enough along to escape the ban.
Even if the JCC’s antenna project did not fall under the moratorium’s jurisdiction, “We would have taken pains to make sure it was delayed until the city had a plan if they had continued with it,” said Hawley.
In rejecting Sprint’s offer, the JCC turned down what would have been a longtime financial benefit. Bashevkin declined to say exactly how much Sprint was willing to pay, describing the amount as “not a significant portion of our budget,” but the payments would have been come yearly, throughout the lifetime of the installation.
In addition, Sprint had offered to replace an obsolete, rickety smokestack on the JCC’s grounds. The Walnut Street site is a historical building; as a result, replacing or repairing the stack is certain to be a financial and/or administrative nuisance.
In offering to replace the stack, Sprint said it would place the antennas within the new chimney, therefore appeasing aesthetic concerns.
Bashevkin, however, said that financial gain could not outweigh the community’s concerns.
“We are not a corporation that is presumably not directly obligated to its clients,” said Bashevkin. “We are [obligated]. That’s why we’re a community center.”