Friday, May 23, 2014

*Exclusive* Plans Revealed: Starr Wants Cell Tower Where Weast, City and Neighborhood said NO #dejavu #hopeless @mcpssuper

What's up with Superintendent Joshua Starr and cell towers?  

  • In 2004, the Wootton High School community said no to a cell tower on the school's field, yet Starr has let a cell tower vendor come back with a proposal again.  
  • In 2007, Superintendent Jerry Weast, the City of Rockville and neighbors to the Julius West Middle School all said no to a cell tower on that playground.  Yet, Superintendent Starr is letting MCPS staff spend time reviewing yet another cell tower proposal for the Julius West Middle School playground.
How many times must a community say no to a cell tower on their public school playground?

The Parents' Coalition has obtained copies of the current proposal for the Julius West Middle School playground and are making them public.  These plans are dated February 18, 2014 and show the address of the school.

Note we did not get these plans from MCPS.


9 comments:

  1. Where can I get the plans for Wootton?

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  2. Janis, clearly Dr. Starr believes that Montgomery County citizens will all fail a geography bee. Julius West middle school is around the corner from Wootton High School. We're talking about cell towers in the exact same neighborhood that just told MCPS that they DON'T want cell towers at the schools in their neighborhood.

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  3. These plans have gone forward without the involvement of the neighboring communities.As noted, Verizon has submitted an application with detailed schematic drawings of the site plan and tower design/description and is in the process of submitting an application before the City of Rockville to grant an exception due to the height. The MCPS Baldridge cell tower process requires the Julius West principal to schedule an informational PTSA meeting and invite the community before the provider appeals for the Special Exception. According to Peter Geiling, MCPS Real Estate Management Team Leader "a meeting was held last fall with the PTA to gauge initial support, which was generally positive." I live next next door to Julius West in Rose Hill Falls and our community was not invited to the PTA meeting in the fall. When the previous proposal was put forward, we submitted petitions with over 300 signatures opposing the cell tower as a public policy that is dangerous on a number of levels (potential severe health threats, physical dangers due to need to continual truck traffic, proximity of large quantity of diesel fuel, risk of collapse, (February 2nd cell tower accident in West Virginia), obstruction of landing field for emergency helicopters on the 270 corridor and overall danger as a hazmat site (including barb wire).

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    Replies
    1. (potential severe health threats) - Comical, isn't everything "potential" bus accidents?
      (physical dangers due to need to continual truck traffic) = Like walking to school?
      (proximity of large quantity of diesel fuel) = Like the Bus?
      (risk of collapse) = Like the bridges the bus takes to school?
      (obstruction of landing field for emergency helicopters on the 270) Are you serious? So how do the choppers land on our football field with 4 light towers and 2 goal posts?

      I really want to be as objective as possible but when reading these emotional posts its hard not to be turned away. Is this emotional or objective?

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    2. You don't want to be anything. You are anonymous and probably being paid by cell tower vendors to post on websites and blogs. So go ahead and turn away! On this blog we are talking about the facts. Here are some of them again:

      As we have documented on this blog multiple times the cell towers on public school property are HIDING from paying property taxes. That, invisible commenter, is NOT in the best interest of citizens. WE pay property taxes. WE do not get to hide!

      Wow are you wrong about cell towers not going away. The next generation technology is already here and already in use. Catch up.

      Does the school system make money? Please show us the line item in the budget. We'll wait because it is NOT THERE! This is slush fund money that doesn't pay teacher salaries and doesn't build new classrooms. It is fun money for principals to go to dinner or whatever. The funds are not listed in the MCPS budget.

      Oh, and here's a good one. Cell towers are Hazardous Materials locations. In Montgomery County they are required to register with the Fire Department in case of an incident. But, guess what??? Some don't!!!!! Again, they skip the law because they are hiding on public school land.

      Sorry, commercial structures hiding on public school playgrounds are NOT WELCOME.

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    3. Dear "potential ' skeptical citizen,

      Lead was a 'potential' danger for years. Europe banned it in paint in the 30's. we banned it in the 70's waiting for "proof" even though there was tons of research!
      take cigarettes. Get your head out of the sand. 2 thousand studies showing harm is enough. This is not potential danger . this is a government that just is not acting fast enough as usual.

      Don't you think it is odd how hard the industry is fighting .

      Now we are cleaning up lead across the country. What a mess!
      We wear seatbelts in cars, we use cross walks, we don't pour diesel fuel on our breakfast cereal so why are we pouring radiation into our school playgrounds. Please take the time to read the research and you might rethink your words.

      We are talking about our children's health. Is it OK to play russian roulette with their future.
      If we are wrong then we have lost nothing.
      If it turns out this is a carcinogen then we just made a mistake that we will regret.
      If it is neurotoxic as research is pointing to.. then WOW... we just bet on our children's brains.

      Lets be frank. No other exposure has proliferated like wireless radiation. if it is harming our kids, the impact could be huge. Sounds like the talk of a crazy parent but do the math. 6 hours a day exposure at school.
      We had best wake up and get our heads out of the sand and get to work.

      Delete
  4. How can Starr do this? The health and safety of children should be his priority. We should not risk our health for more wifi.

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  5. Look at the last page where the cell tower is towering above the trees. You would think they would design them less scary. But we should be scared. Why are we adding more microwaves to the air? For what? Our Smartphones? Our wifi? Our iPads?

    What's the point of anything if we get sick. How did it come to this? Putting microwave towers on children's schools? Experimenting with children? Our society has some rethinking of priorities to do.

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  6. When a cell tower went up in my neighborhood, only neighbors whose property line was adjacent with the school were contacted. Also, these plans show room future carriers but what they don't show is when these future carriers go up, more equipment on the ground will be needed and the compound footprint will expand.

    ReplyDelete

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