UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Longtime opponents of the massive LinkNYC 5G towers are taking their fight to the steps of City Hall on Wednesday morning, holding a rally ahead of a crucial City Council hearing.
Carnegie Hill Neighbors, who have been fighting the installation of proposed 5G towers in their neighborhood since the plans were announced in December, say the city should scrap the whole plan and ditch another “disastrous” technology rollout and find a technology that is less obtrusive.
“New Yorkers shouldn’t have to choose between wireless coverage and livable, secure neighborhoods,” said Joanna Cawley, the executive director of Carnegie Hill Neighbors. “But the City’s disastrous Link 5G plans do just that.”
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The group’s position is that while the City’s goal to close the digital divide is commendable, the 32-foot-tall towers they’re using to close the gap are an “outmoded vehicle to deliver 5G access,” according to a statement.
In a recent Carnegie Hill Neighbors newsletter, the group points to existing “small cell” 5G towers that current mobile carriers — like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile — already have installed on rooftops and traffic poles that are barely noticeable, especially compared with the much larger and imposing LinkNYC towers.
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Proponents, including CityBridge, the company who owns LinkNYC, say the towers are a key part of upgrading the city’s broadband infrastructure, which they say over a million households in the city still lack.
“New York City’s leaders should focus on providing reliable 5G service, free Wi-Fi, and better at-home broadband to all New Yorkers rather than allowing a handful of unelected individuals to dictate the City’s infrastructure needs,” said a spokesperson from CityBridge.
A representative told Patch that while rooftop and pole-top towers are part of the solution, the larger towers are needed to fully bridge the digital gap to host the highest bandwidth 5G frequencies because the radios must be closer to the ground than the current higher-positioned small cell towers.
According to City Hall, 18 percent of New Yorkers lack any internet service at home, which they said is about 1.5 million people.
“Mayor Adams believes that digital connectivity is a human right, necessary to fully participate and access opportunities in modern society,” said spokesperson Kayla Mamelak, who added that each potential LinkNYC site begins with written public notices and a 6o-day public comment period.
CityBridge also said that the 5G pole design underwent a year-long public review process under the past administration.
The group’s rally at 11 a.m. is ahead of a 1 p.m. City Council oversight hearing on the deployment of LinkNYC 5G towers all over the Big Apple.
“Starting with tomorrow’s hearing, it’s time for officials across the city – from the Council to the Mayor himself – to reconsider this program and replace it with something smaller, safer, and less intrusive,” said Cawley.
In May, the Federal Communications Commission ordered that the proposed towers failed to undergo a full and proper regulatory process and must now be reviewed under the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act before any further installation.
Council Member Keith Powers, who represents Carnegie Hill, said “we need clear answers on how the towers were installed without going through the appropriate review process and how specific locations are chosen. Wednesday’s hearing will introduce much-needed oversight. I plan on asking several questions and look forward to an informative hearing.”
Despite opposition from residents and Community Board 8 in December, the City announced that they would move forward with the plan to install 5G towers in the neighborhood.
The majority of the planned towers were located west of Park Avenue in Carnegie Hill and below East 65th Street.
Since then, Carnegie Hill Neighbors and staff from Powers’ office say that four of the 10 proposed sites in Carnegie Hill have been withdrawn, including one on Fifth Avenue near the Guggenheim Museum. A spokesperson from the Office of Technology and Information told Patch in March that they were still moving forward with the Upper East Side sites at the time.
Last year, the city began installing the 5G towers, which use the extra-fast cellular technology to power Wi-Fi, USB chargers, nationwide calling, and access to 911 and 311. LinkNYC is a joint venture with the sometimes-troubled private consortium CityBridge.
Eventually, the city will install 2,000 of the LinkNYC towers around New York City, which has over over 1.5 million residents without internet service, said OTI.
Most of the towers — 90 percent of them — are located above 96th Street in Manhattan and in underserved neighborhoods in The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, according to the OTI.
While the WiFi access is free, New Yorkers will need data plans to access 5G service from the LinkNYC towers.
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