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Majority pan WV cell towers 100 turned away from town hall meeting
BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
A capacity crowd of West Vancouver residents turned out Wednesday night to make sure Rogers and District of West Vancouver council understand they are opposed to three more cell towers being installed on the Highway 1 corridor. Rogers has applied to build three 36-metre towers on provincial land at Taylor Way, 15th Street and 26th Street that will include infrastructure to boost the wireless data coverage of the applicant as well as Telus and Wind Mobile. Wednesday’s event was run much like a municipal pubic hearing, including presentations from district staff and the applicant followed by a chance for residents to speak their minds.The one key difference:West Vancouver council cannot vote on whether to allow the towers to be installed.That is exclusive jurisdiction of Industry Canada. Driving the need for the towers is growing demand for wireless data service and the federal government auctioning off more bandwidth on the wireless spectrum, according to Mark Draper, a Rogers engineer. But dropped calls or slowerYouTube downloads weren’t a priority for dozens of residents who live near the proposed towers
Argyle student mugged in NV park
British Properties resident Elizabeth Seaton speaks against the three proposed cell towers to be sited in West Vancouver at Wednesday night’s town hall meeting held at the West Vancouver Seniors Activity Centre. Use the Layar app to see video footage of the meeting. PHOTO PAUL MCGRATH when they approached the microphones to lay out their concerns. Among the most commonly repeated: the not fully-understood health impacts of electromagnetic frequency that comes from cell towers, the loss of views and neighbourhood character that would come
with “industrial” towers and the drop in property values surrounding residents would suffer. While district staff reiterated a previous statement from Vancouver Coastal Health’s chief medical health officer Dr. Patricia Daly, that
cellular antennae do not create health risks for the public and that Canada’s Safety Code 6 provides an appropriate level of protection, many speakers pointed to higher safety standards and growing concern from medical, health and safety groups in
other countries. Very little research has been done into the longterm effects of microwave radiation, noted Ken Stiles, a PhD physicist, though in his own review of scientific literature, he did come by See 2nd
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North Vancouver RCMP is investigating after an Argyle secondary student was mugged at knifepoint on his walk to school, Wednesday. The student was walking on a trail in Hunter Park around 8:30 a.m. when confronted by a masked man brandishing a knife and demanding the student hand over his backpack which contained a small amount of cash. Though he wasn’t injured, the student is shaken up by the incident, an RCMP press release noted. The victim described the suspect to police as a “tall lanky man with shoulder length blond hair.” He was wearing a balaclava, blue hooded sweatshirt and grey sweatpants at the time of the robbery. Police don’t yet have any suspects, according to the release. In response to the incident, the North Vancouver school district sent a note to parents on Wednesday afternoon, advising them to review safe practices for kids who walk to school. Students should travel in groups and use well-lit streets or trails, the letter notes, and anyone who feels threatened on their walk should call 9-1-1. “This incident is very concerning to the police and to the community,” said Cpl. Doug Trousdell, North Vancouver RCMP See RCMP page 5
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