From Edgemont: Next Steps on NextG and a New Assistant Principal

The installation of cell phone antennas on residential streets in Edgemont could be averted. At a well-attended meeting of the Edgemont Community Council (ECC) on Thursday, January 5th, ECC President Geoff Loftus told the group that Crown Castle, a company that owns, operates and leases cell phone towers, now has an agreement to acquire NextG, who has filed an application to install antennas in Edgemont. Since Crown Castle holds an exclusive license to operate wireless facilities on state property, including right-of-ways on Central Avenue, Dobbs Ferry Road and Saw Mill River Road their purchase of NextG would remove any impediment to NextG's use of the right-of-way and eliminate NextG’s need for a special permit to install antennas in residential neighborhoods.

According to a memo from the ECC, Michelle McNally, an Edgemont resident and member of the Antenna Board of Review, has written to Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner as an individual, urging him to refer NextG's application back to the Review Board. Feiner believes this will happen at or after the Town Board public hearing on January 25th. Feiner has repeatedly stated that he would prefer that the cell phone antennas not be placed on residential streets and hopes that a solution can be found that does not violate federal law. Federal law limits the ability of governments to reject antenna applications for health reasons. The ECC hopes that since NextG, as a part of Crown Castle, should now be able to provide service without installing residential-area antennas, it will not be granted a special permit to do so. Feiner says that the Crown Castle purchase changes the dynamics of the application and feels there is a good possibility that the Town Board will refer the matter back to the Antenna Review Board.

However, in an update on 1/12/12, Loftus sent the following letter to Scarsdale10583 that was read into the record during the Public Comment portion of the Greenburgh Town Board meeting on Wednesday night January 11. According to Loftus, the Town Board is poised not to follow the Town's law and appears ready to allow NextG to install antennas in residential neighborhoods.

To the Greenburgh Town Board: My name is Geoff Loftus, and I'm the president of the Edgemont Community Council.

I'm here to ask the that Town Board refer the ECC's proposed amendment to the Town's antenna law to the Planning Board as soon as possible and ask for an expedited process, so that a public hearing can be held promptly. (The amendment was sent via e-mail to all of you on Monday evening, and I've brought hard-copies tonight.)

Given that the Board has invited NextG representatives to attend next week's work session, and that NextG may file new or modified applications, it is especially urgent that this amendment not be held up for changes that Town departments also might want to make to the law. There's no need to wait on our proposal: the Town can amend the antenna law later if there are other amendments it wishes to add. Additionally, there is no need to wait on Federal input – Federal law is not controlling in this instance. And, if the events of the last several weeks prove anything, it is that residents need immediate notification about applications to install antennas in their neighborhoods. And why would the Board hesitate to give them adequate advance notice? After all, aren't the residents the people the Town Board is supposed to represent and protect?

The ECC's amendment to the antenna law has three important points:

* It moves the notification of residents to the time an application is filed, not when it's completed.

* It increases the geographic area of notification from a 250-foot radius to 500-feet, ensuring that all the residents who are concerned will be notified.

* It invites those notified residents to comment before the Antenna Review Board.

We believe these changes will help the Antenna Review Board do its work -- greater input from the community, earlier in the process has to be beneficial.

I also want to express the ECC's ongoing concern regarding NextG. It is our understanding that you have invited representatives of NextG to next week's work session. If that's correct, shouldn't residents directly affected be invited as well? And . . . is it really fair to hold such a meeting on a Tuesday morning when many residents are at work? And even more important, with the public hearing on NextG's applications still pending, is it even proper to hold a Town Board work session with an applicant at all?

We ask that you give us a timetable for when our proposed amendment will be introduced and acted upon. Please stop utilizing decoys such as Federal law. Please do not meet with the applicant or do not meet with the applicant without involving the residents. Please enforce the town code as written and serve the residents of Greenburgh and not the applicant.

Many Edgemont residents continue to worry about the possibility of NextG cell phone antennas on their residential streets and hope NextG will change course. Ellen Weininger, Educational Outreach Coordinator for Grassroots Environmental Education, and Deborah Kopald, a nationally recognized public health advocate who lives in Orange County and has consulted to governmental officials, nonprofit organizations and concerned Westchester residents on DAS and other wireless transmitters and devices, both expressed their concerns that radiation from cell towers can cause health problems and should not be taken lightly. They feel that these cell transmitter systems pose an even greater health risk than cell phone towers. The public hearing will be held on Wednesday January 25th at 7:30 pm at Town Hall and is open to public comment. It is still important that Edgemont residents attend the hearing and express their concerns to the Town Board.

New Assistant Principal for Edgemont High School:

On the school front, the Edgemont Board of Education will officially hire a new Assistant Principal for the high school at the January 10, 2012 meeting. After a wide search, Doron Markus will join the administrative team at Edgemont. He is the Science Department chair at Hastings High School and a popular teacher with students. Mr. Markus has a BA in Political Science from SUNY Albany, certification in Biology from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, a Masters of Science in Education Administration from the College of New Rochelle, and is working towards his doctorate (Ed.D) in Instructional Leadership at St. John's University. Prior to entering the field of education he owned a vintage clothing store in Toronto, Ontario. During his career as a teacher he taught in Ft. Lauderdale, in Barcelona, Spain at the American School of Barcelona, and at Hastings High School. Also at the January 10th BOE meeting, there will be a review of the new K-5 mathematics program: Math in Focus.

The Edgemont Scholarship Council (ESC) continues to work to help college seniors. The Council’s seeks to ensure that no child is denied a college education because of insufficient finances. Through the generosity of the community and through various fundraising efforts, each year the ESC awards thousands of dollars in need-based scholarship money to eligible Edgemont graduates to further their studies. Save the date for their annual Make-a-Difference event on February 3rd. Invitations will be sent out soon.

Finally the 2012 spring musical, Oklahoma, has been cast and the students are hard at work under the direction of Director Kelley Morse to bring to life the story of two young cowboys who vie with an evil ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century. The show will run from March 22 – 25 and information about ticket sales will be available on February 1st on the school's website. Last year's spring musical, Grease, sold out three of the four performances, so order your tickets early.