Image: The Bay Ridge Rover.

Last week a group of concerned Bay Ridge parents and local officials held a rally and picket line outside a neighborhood Verizon Wireless retailer. The group was demanding the company remove the cell phone receivers installed on a rooftop near P.S. 185; they say the receivers emit dangerously high radiofrequency (RF) emissions and should not be placed near schools. They are also calling for legislation limiting where the receivers can be installed.

The FCC admits that RF levels are higher when cell phone antennas are mounted on city rooftops, but “exposures approaching or exceeding the safety guidelines are only likely to be encountered very close to or directly in front of the antennas.” Of course there’s much debate on the matter; last year a group of scientists and researchers released evidence indicating a risk of brain tumors and acoustic neuromas caused by cellular phone radiation.

While the Bay Ridge protest echoes similar community concerns about cell phone antennas, a church in Greenpoint has been peacefully installing cell phone transmitters with no outcry whatsoever. Over a century old, the Saint Cecilia Catholic Church has been struggling to stay in the black with a diminishing number of parishioners. To raise revenue, the church has let a cell phone company install eight of them on its bell tower, where they’re camouflaged by faux limestone boxes.