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Cell carriers are planning to add whole-house broadband service to the cell services they offer now, and Verizon wants to lead the way, placing a 60-foot 5G high intensity broadband cell tower on the corner of a residential street in North-East Rochester. They make this sound like a good thing, "adding broadband service in an under-served area."

But Rochester is already fully served with broadband through an extensive fiber-optic network now reaching all neighborhoods, including low income areas. It is affordability, not availability that is the issue in poor neighborhoods and across the city. Broadband service is extremely profitable, and cell carriers want in on the action. 

Verizon's proposed tower is far taller than is safe, or permitted under Rochester zoning rules, for a residential neighborhood. And the health effects of RF radiation at the intensity needed for reliable broadband service are still poorly understood.

The reason Verizon chose Portland Avenue for their proposed site is that the neighborhood is lower income, so they think they can sway the Planning Commission. to bend the rules here.

But FCC law says the City Planning Commission may not favor one carrier over others. But FCC law says the City Planning Commission may not favor one carrier over others. This means if Verizon succeeds in planting a dangerously oversized tower in a residential neighborhood, T-Mobile and AT&T will soon be asking for theirs. This is a precedent we must not allow to be set. We must stop this now.