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Politics & Government

AT&T Cell Tower Proposal Defeated

Wilmette Park District Commissioners voted to end negotiations Monday evening.

Not a hand rose in agreement with the president of the Wilmette Park District's board of commissioners, Dennis O'Malley, when he asked if anyone else wanted to install an antenna in Centennial Park to boost AT&T's cellular network.

"Is there anybody in the room who is in support of the tower?" O'Malley asked the room. Silence.

The votes were cast: six to nix the plan, one — comissioner Mike Murdock— to keep it on the table. The room erupted into cheers and clapping. The voice of Wilmette had been heard; there would be no AT&T cell tower built near .

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More than 100 people gathered Monday evening at Village Hall to protest the tower because of potential health risks and devaluation of property, among other things.

Dennis Brickman, who has lived in Wilmette since 1966 and used to walk with Ari and Rahm Emanuel to Locust Junior High School—where Brickman's mother was a math teacher—chose to establish his family's home at the corner of Wilmette and Crawford Avenues, where "we can cross the street in our flip-flops and swimming trunks and go to the Centennial Park swimming pool."

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"I've personally investigated fatalities due to the erection of cell phone towers," Brickman said of his job as a national inspector. He said he has a full array of suits from a fireproof getup to radiation-resistant coveralls. "When I come home, I don't have any protection in my own back yard if this proposal were to pass."

In particular, residents were concerned about the as-yet inconclusive tests regarding the health risks of waves projected for cellular networks to function. 

Sheldon Hirsch, a doctor with more than 30 years of experience evaluating medical and scientific literature, cautioned the board about the potential harms.

"Is your concern about this tower in this location, or do you believe we should be looking at all of the cell phone towers in the community?" Murdock asked Hirsch.

"What concerns me most as an individual is this tower going over the heads of children who are swimming there 120 days a summer, four hours a day," Hirsch said. "We all know cell towers are here to stay, and they have to go somewhere. But in particular, the last thing you want to do is put them over the heads of our kids."

There were others who both applauded and echoed Hirsh's concerns, including a private pilot who works with radiating plane instruments, a realtor worried about plummeting home prices, as well as a slew of others.

These residents wanted the board to forget about the cell tower, despite the $36,000 per year in revenue would bring the Park District.

No representative was present from Callahan Communication Services, the agency that would install the tower, despite having been invited to the meeting around Wednesday last week.

"I'm very unhappy they're not here to answer our questions," Murdock said. But Murdock cautioned residents that the revenue the district stood to gain was not insignificant, and he warned that AT&T would likely look elsewhere in the immediate vicinity for a place to put the tower. For those reasons, and the fact that he desired a harder look at the health risks before rejecting the plan outright, he was the lone vote against ending the proposal.

Others commissioners, though just as apt to consider the potential revenue, were guided by the desires of their constituents. 

"This ward has always responded to the will of the community," commissioner Henry Wolff said. "I don't see any reason why we should alter that philosophy tonight."

A motion was raised to end negotiations with Callahan Communication Services and AT&T.

Commissioner James Crowley thanked residents for their behavior and concern for the village.

 "I think you're to be commended for your graciousness, your respect and the fact that we're all neighbors, and we're all part of the community," Crowley said. "My hat's off to you."       

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