Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Stanley Chan, Community Member from Forest Hills, Queens
3:05:10
·
148 sec
Stanley Chan, a community member and father from Forest Hills, Queens, expresses concerns about a 5G tower recently installed outside PS 144 on Junuo Street. He argues that the tower's placement is inappropriate due to potential health concerns for children and the lack of community input in the decision-making process.
- Chan questions the necessity of the tower in Forest Hills, suggesting it could be better placed in areas with greater digital equity needs.
- He highlights the tower's obstruction to student and parent foot traffic, as it's placed near the main entrance and bus drop-off area of the school.
- Chan requests that the Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) consider relocating the tower to a less sensitive location, even if just 200 feet down the block.
Stanley Chan
3:05:10
Okay.
3:05:10
Great.
3:05:10
So I wanna say thank you to the committee for having a chance to to see and learn more about the mission for to address digital equity.
3:05:20
And I think it's an important mission, and I I agree with it.
3:05:23
So my name is Stanley Chan.
3:05:25
I'm a community member, a homeowner, and most importantly, the father in Forest Hills, Queens.
3:05:30
And the reason why I'm here is I wanna speak about the same tower that went up on Juneau Street right outside of PS 144.
3:05:37
Can I share my screen?
3:05:38
Because I have a photo, you know, just to illustrate my point.
3:05:40
Is that okay?
Jennifer Gutiérrez
3:05:42
I don't think that we can share screens at you know, I don't think we can.
Stanley Chan
3:05:46
Okay.
3:05:47
So so essentially this this tower, it went up last Thursday and there was feedback from the community and most people are are deeply unhappy about it.
3:05:54
And we feel as if OTI did not, you know, take our input into into consideration.
3:06:01
This so if the mission is to to serve digital, you know, equity, Forest Hills is lucky to be an affluent community, and I don't believe that it's it's a place where this tower is best placed.
3:06:11
If there's only 200 of them, I feel like it's better, you know, placed somewhere else.
3:06:15
And and people are unhappy when when it's placed outside of their homes.
3:06:19
This is a school with 830 children.
3:06:21
There's 830 families.
3:06:23
Some of them as young as three, three years of age.
3:06:26
And I we don't know what the health effects of five g are.
3:06:29
I can't say that I do, but it's not something that we know conclusively.
3:06:33
So even if we were to be placed maybe 200 feet down a block, that'd a better location because this is a place where it's right outside the main entrance of the school.
3:06:41
There's hundreds of kids which walk past.
3:06:44
It's actually a place where where buses will will drop kids off, and I I don't understand how OTI made the choice to place the tower in this particular place.
3:06:53
I I don't think it serves the community.
3:06:54
We're not a place that that, you know, is suffering from digital equity, and it it literally is just physically in a place that is obstructing, you know, students and parents who are walk walking past school, not to mention health concerns.
3:07:09
So is there is there how how does OTI do this?
3:07:13
So I I think council member the council member that spoke from Brooklyn earlier perfectly captures how we feel about this tower.
3:07:19
We feel as if, you know, there's there was no no chance for the community to give feedback on this tower being placed there.
3:07:26
And is there is there any way to we can, you know, maybe even move it down down a block or somewhere else where it can be needed more?
3:07:33
That's that's what wanted to say, and I I thank you for having the chance to express myself.