Hundreds of Central Etobicoke residents demonstate against 5G tower being built in area plaza parking lot. Staff photos.
About 300 Central Etobicoke residents staged a noisy demonstration to try and stop a 5G cell tower from being constructed in the parking lot of Renforth Plaza.
Residents are opposed to a 25-metre (about eight storeys high) cell tower being built at 460 Renforth Drive, that faces many busy stores, including a No Frills grocery store.
Many of the demonstrators of a group called Etobicoke Community for Safe Technology, wore signs and the group after speeches circled the plaza’s parking lot chanting slogans.
Group spokesman Nunzio DelGiudice said residents have health concerns from the transmission towers in their midst.
Protestors gather around the fenced in cell tower construction work. Staff photos.
He said residents fear increased health risks – including cancer – from constant radio wave emissions from the tower.
“We believe that increased health risks will directly impact the community due to the radio frequency being emitted from this tower,” DelGuidice said. “Several public schools and seniors homes exist close to the tower,”
He said about 1,800 people have signed a petition in opposition to the tower being built.
The tower, according to documents, will partially be used to boost FIFA World Cup live game coverage next June.
Residents said they fear cancer and other health concerns stemming from the cell transmission tower.
A yellow construction fence surrounds a square concrete anchor in the parking lot that has cables extending out that will be installed to the top of the almost 33-feet tall tower to transmit digital signals.
Residents said the 5G site affects nearby residential areas, a retirement facility, Centennial Park and the Etobicoke Olympium where families gather.
“We trust that public health and safety will continue to be a priority and that our concerns will be taken seriously and heard,” the petition asked. “We firmly believe that the negative impacts of the health risks outweigh the internet-availability benefits.”
Construction is underway of the eight-storey tower that the community is against claiming that politicians are not listening.
Resident Dwight Anderson complained that the voice of residents are not being heard in the halls of power.
“All our letters to City Hall have been ignored,” Anderson. “This project was rubber-stamped by the City with little or no public consultations.”
Ward 2 Councillor Stephen Holyday said he is against the 5G tower and has expressed his opposition.
“The issues raised include concerns over the height and built form of the tower, aesthetics, the placement on the site, [and] the appropriateness and proximity of the location of the radio communications equipment to sensitive uses such as residences and schools,” he wrote in a letter to the City opposing the project.
Resident Carlo Di Iorio is concerned about his family’s healthy.
“It is shocking news of a 5G tower that will become a serious health risk to so many individuals, including me and my family,” he said.
Another irate resident said the tower will place “high-frequency transmitters in the heart of a family neighborhood which is irresponsible and unacceptable.”