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Gehry admits his design was ‘horrible’: p.3 BROOKLYN’S REAL NEWSPAPERS Including The Bensonhurst Paper Published every Saturday — online all the time — by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 55 Washington St, Suite 624, Brooklyn NY 11201. Phone 718-834-9350 • www.BrooklynPapers.com • © 2005 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 16 pages BRZ •Vol. 28, No. 46 •Saturday, November 26, 2005 • FREE A CELL OF A PROTEST Ridgites rally ‘Yes’ to in last-ditch stores, effort to stop ‘No’ to antennas phone towers By Jerome Burdi for The Brooklyn Papers By Gersh Kuntzman Dozens of students from the school Bay Ridgites continue to protest the instal- lation of a Nextel cellphone antenna near St. The Brooklyn Papers filled the large crowd of people chanti- ng, “Cell no! Nextel must go!” Anselm’s School, but the neighborhood has Hundreds of Bay Ridge residents The antenna’s proximity to the school been awfully friendly to cellphone stores. — many of them cellphone owners remains a sticking point with many par- There are 12 stores that sell mobile phones on themselves — rallied Sunday in ents. the five-block span of 86th Street between Fourth front of an apartment building “These telecommunications compa- Avenue and Gatling Place. where a controversial mobile phone nies are not considering the concerns of Some names are well known to cellphone antenna will be installed. the children,” said Chris Proscia, a St. users — brand names like T-Mobile, Nextel, Ver- The protesters believe that such anten- Anselm parent. “We all agree that in to- Callan / Tom izon Wireless, and Cingular — while others are nas, which are popping up in residential day’s society, we do need cell phones, indirect sellers of a variety of brands and are eas- neighborhoods all over the city, emit harm- but not at the expense of the safety of ily discerned by their gaudy storefronts boasting ful radio waves that could cause cancer. our children!” free phones. Most acknowledge that there is no Later, a large portion of the group These include Cell Tech, Cell King and Mo- hard evidence of the danger of cellphone marched to a Sprint/Nextel store on 86th Papers The Brooklyn bile Tech off Fort Hamilton Parkway. transmitters, which have become a fact- Street to urge cellphone buyers to pur- While many residents said they wanted to see Protesters march from building at 8300 Fourth Ave., where a cell tower was set to be installed next Friday, down of-life in this mobile city. chase equipment from other manufactur- more diversity in the shopping district, most ac- “There have been no studies about the ers — even though some of those com- Fourth Avenue to a Nextel store on 86th Street — one of 12 cellphone stores on the block. knowledged the indomitable rule of supply and long-term effects of exposure to radiation, panies are also planning their own demand. particularly at the high levels brought by cellphone antennas. low to produce any adverse health ef- monthly fee to have its equipment atop many of whom have also complained of “Cellphones happen to be a commodity that cellphone towers,” said City Councilman “It’s heartening to see such communi- fects.” the building, but he refused to say how an influx of the equipment atop residen- people want,” said lifelong Bay Ridge resident Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge). ty activism,” said Gentile. The spokesman, Mark Elliott, said large the fee is. tial buildings. Richard Carta, 55, who was shopping on Mon- Gentile blasted the cellphone compa- “We are sending the message loud and that a cellphone antenna operates at 10 to Bay Ridge has been particularly at- Cellphone companies, which now day. “Stores come and go here. When there’s less nies for claiming that the antennas are clear: not in our neighborhood, not to our 12 watts of power. A typical FM radio tractive for the transmitters because of its need only a simple building permit to in- of a demand for them, I guess they’ll just go safe. children! The people of Sprint/Nextel can tower puts out 100,000 watts. proximity to the water, said Gentile stall the equipment, have lobbied the away like other stores have.” “Their claims have about as much va- rest assured that they haven’t heard the last He said the equipment was on sched- spokesman Craig Donner. Cellphone City Council to kill the bill on the Cingular, which recently absorbed AT&T lidity as the tobacco companies’ [old] of us.” ule to be installed on Friday. companies are rushing to fill in the so- grounds that a public review process Wireless, actually has two stores across 86th claims about the safety of cigarettes!” Aspokesman for Sprint/Nextel said “We conform to all regulations and lo- called “dead zones” that are the bane of would unduly burden them. Street from each other. Ellen Webner, a spokes- Gentile and Assemblyman Matthew the company “respects the parents and cal zoning,” he said. “Wireless phones their customers. Former Councilmember Ken Fisher, woman for the company, said one of the loca- Mirones (R-Staten Island) led the rally community members,” but added that are regulated by rigorous safety guide- The councilman is co-sponsor of leg- now a lobbyist for T-Mobile, also told tions will close in the spring. in front of 8300 Fourth Ave., at 83rd “the preponderance of the scientific evi- lines and we meet or exceed all FCC islation that would require public ap- the Council that if there are genuine “We try to put stores where they make sense,” Street, which is located across from St. dence in the U.S., Canada and overseas, regulations.” proval for new cellphone antennas. The health concerns, the federal government, she said, adding that Cingular looks for areas Anselm’s Church school. is that the power from cell sites is far too Elliott said the company will pay a bill is popular with councilmembers, not the City Council, should step in. See STORES on page 3 Island Dems listen to Vin’s Fossella pitch Gentile: They called me! By Gersh Kuntzman comments after his re-election this year The Brooklyn Papers — but Yassky is now openly seeking the congressional seat currently occupied by To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a the retiring Major Owens. truth universally acknowledged The Staten Island Democratic ma- that a term-limited politician in pos- chine’s flirtation with Gentile is not session of good name-recognition without its hazards. Gentile was the tar- must be in want of higher office. get of a sexual harassment complaint by The latest pol to reportedly prove a male ex-staffer earlier this year, but the “Pride and Prejudice” rule is Bay was ultimately cleared. Ridge Councilman Vincent Gentile. And he made a name for himself — Days after winning a tough re-elec- and not the good kind of name — tion battle over Republican when he suggested that mo- challenger Pat Russo, Gen- torists be allowed to briefly tile sat down with a De- double-park if they were mocratic Party screening running a quick errand. committee that’s trying “He has a lot of bag- to find someone to gage,” said Shawn run against Rep. Vito Dwyer, president of the Fossella next year. Staten Island Democra- The Staten Island tic Association, who is Congressman sur- involved in the search for vived his own re-elec- a candidate. tion battle last year, “The sexual harassment beating Frank Bar- accusation would be men- baro, 59-41 percent, a tioned 100 times a day [during / Julie Larson Maher surprisingly narrow the campaign], and so would that win for an incumbent. silly double-parking proposal. Gentile, a state senator “I don’t think Vinny is a bad person,” from 1997 to 2002, said Dwyer continued, “but I want to see Vito through a spokesman that the screen- Fossella defeated and to do so, we need ing committee reached out to him, not our strongest candidate.” the other way around — despite the The committee has also spoken to Wildlife Conservancy Society implication of a Staten Island Advance Staten Island Assemblyman Michael headline this week, “Ex-State Senator Cusick and is expected to talk to Coun- Gunning for Congressman’s Job.” cilman Mike McMahon soon. “He’ll listen to what they say, of If Gentile emerges as the candidate, it course, but he’s comfortable staying in would be due to his name recognition the council,” said the spokesman, Greg and fundraising ability, said Assembly- Survivors! Hanlon. “He’s very thankful to the vot- man John Lavelle, the county leader. For some, Thanksgiving meant a huge turkey dinner. But at the Prospect Park Zoo, it was just another day for these birds. Earlier this month, the Zoo gave its long- ers for returning him to the Council.” “The idea is to find someone who time male resident, Franklin (left), a love interest when Patience was shipped over from the Queens Zoo. While you were stuffing yourself with legs and thighs, His council colleague David Yassky can raise money,” Lavelle said. “Fos- these two lovebirds were getting to know each other better along the Zoo’s Discovery Trail. (D-Brooklyn Heights) made similar sella has a $2-million war chest.” 2 AWP THE BROOKLYN PAPERS • WWW.BROOKLYNPAPERS.COM November 26, 2005 rprising about ’s su the hat onl W y NEW YORK CITY HOSPITAL ® to receive the HealthGrades 2005 Cardiac Care Excellence Award TM? It has a VIEW OF MANHATTAN. Located in the heart of Brooklyn, Maimonides has the only from performing the fi rst successful human heart transplant comprehensive cardiac program in the borough—and it’s among in the U.S.