5 More Uptown 5G Tower Sites Presented In Plans, Leaving Pol 'Livid'

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — The city presented plans this week for nine massive 5G poles it expects to bring to Upper Manhattan, leaving locals and politicians both stunned and "livid" at a community board meeting this week where they expected to only learn about four.

The surprising news came to Community Board 12 Monday night, when representatives from the Office of Technology and Innovation and LinkNYC shared addresses of proposed sites for the 32-foot-tall towers and didn't, as expected, stop at four.

"What are those sites that have never come in front of CB12," Traffic and Transportation Committee Chair Debby Nabavian demanded. "Address that."

While initial plans called for 5G poles near Fort Tryon Park — at 11 Nagle Ave., 689 Fort Washington Ave., 729 Fort Washington Ave. and 100 Overlook Terrace — the presentation delivered by LinkNYC representative Robert Sokota also included three on Amsterdam Avenue, one on Broadway and another on West 186th Street.

As Sokota spoke, multiple members of the community board visibly reacted with surprise to hearing about the new sites.

Stacy Gardener, of city's Office of Technology and Innovation, told participants her office warned uptowners of the other poles in November, when they sent a slew of emails to local uptown elects, the board and local stakeholders.

"If folks didn't receive them, or if I didn't follow up enough, I'm sorry," Gardener said. "If there was a miscommunication at point, I will take full responsibility for it."

Gardener also promised to gather feedback and adjust plans where possible.

The New York Office of Technology and Innovation also emphasized in an email to Patch that notification letters about both sets of uptown 5G tower sites were sent months ago to Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, Community Board 12 District Manager Ebenezer Smith, and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.

Additionally, OTI said that it followed its "standard notification for these sites," and that it is "working with local leaders and stakeholders during the extended comment period."

De La Rosa was having none of it, though. This was her response in real time:

Let me be very clear, when we met three weeks ago, we talked about the four sites that I have since published on my social media accounts. In that meeting I said to you, if you sent an email in October, it was missed, so email is not the best way to communicate with our office.

Because now I am livid. We got one email about four sites, I’ve never seen these other five sites. Not only have I not seen them, but I had a whole meeting with you all where you could have told me there are five other sites in your district that we are considering — that never happened.

We need to really work on what you all consider outreach, what you consider communication with elected officials, and I’m telling you right now this is unacceptable — and it should not be the first I’m hearing about this in a community board meeting.

The 5G pole plan is a sore spot in the neighborhood, according to Community Board 12 member Katherine Diaz, who said the meeting was held after many uptown residents reached out with concerns about the lack of transparency.

Diaz mentioned that Community Board 12 had only first heard about the proposed towers after Patch reported on the plans, and said the five new sites were "brand new information."

De La Rosa, who noted she's also received messages of support for the plans, recently halted the installation of one such 32-foot towers at 689 Fort Washington Ave. because ground was broken before the neighborhood had a chance to provide input.

An Office of Technology and Innovation spokesperson said in a statement to Patch that the 5G equipment adheres to strict federal safety regulations and the towers go a long way to bridge New York City's digital divide.

"Link5G ensures reliable, ultra-fast network speed and expanded mobile coverage," the spokesperson said. "We thank elected leaders and community members for sharing their valuable feedback and look forward to continued engagement with them as we continue the process of siting these kiosks.”

The spokesperson also noted construction in the district has been halted to allow for community input, but at Monday's meeting, locals raised concerns that construction had begun at all.

"A lot of folks in are building are very concerned, before there was really any notice, construction began, and concrete was poured," a Fort Washington Avenue resident said.

“That location is 10 feet from resident windows, where kids sleep."

Another nearby uptown resident echoed his concerns.

"The morning of Jan. 23 I was awoken by jackhammers and other residents saying there was construction being done," Derek said, who identified himself as the president of a building's board on Fort Washington near the 5G tower site where construction had been halted. "We weren't even given any other options near a city thoroughfare, maybe near Citi Bikes, near somewhere people actually will be charging, nobody is going to be wanting to use a kiosk behind my building."

"This is very concerning overall — if there wasn't any intervention there would be a pole up already — without any response to our concerns," he added.

You can watch the full meeting below.