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Leonard Schwartzburd is a psychologist. He knows more about anxiety than radiation. 

So he understands the fear that the antennas planned around the corner from his house atop the Oaks Theater on Solano Avenue are causing for himself and his neighbors. 

On a recent walk past the theater, Schwartzburd observed the yellow notices posted on the building informing passersby that soon Nextel Corporation would affix antennas on the building. 

These are the telecommunications devices which make cell phones and pagers work. 

“There was no information about safety (on the notices),” Schwartzburd said. “These are heavy-duty transmittal devices for radiation.” 

Schwartzburd said he and his neighbors have a right to know if a potentially dangerous source of radiation is coming next door. 

In Berkeley, antennas are approved administratively. Those on top of the theater have that approval. Citizens, however, may appeal the decision to the Zoning Adjustment Board. 

That’s what Schwartzburd and his neighbors plan to do. They have until Aug. 15 to file the appeal. That will set in motion a public hearing before the Zoning Adjustments Board. 

Vivian Kahn, interim deputy director of planning, says a city has only minimal power to regulate the antennas. 

A city cannot prohibit them, but can regulate them for aesthetics, she said. The antennas atop the Oaks Theater, for example, will be hidden from public view. 

Cities can also dictate where the devices are cited. Berkeley’s 1996 “Wireless Telecommunications Antenna Guidelines” does just this. 

“Wireless communication antennas are discouraged from being located on buildings containing residential uses in residential zones and on residential uses in any zoning district, because of the visual impacts and because the use is inconsistent with the purposes of the residential zoning districts, which is to recognize and protect the existing pattern of residential development in the city’s residentially-zoned areas, in accordance with the city’s General Plan.” 

Schwartzburd, who owns a cellular phone, agrees that antennas should not be banned. But he argues that Solano Avenue, adjacent to a school and residences, is not an appropriate location. 

Besides, Schwartzburd is not nearly as worried about what the antennas look like, as what they might be doing to the community’s health. 

“There is research evidence, in a field in which there is still some controversy, indicating that under various conditions such radiation is a health risk for cancer and other harmful biological effects,” says a leaflet Schwartzburd and his neighbors have distributed in the area of the theater. 

The city, however, can play no role in regulating the safely aspects of the antennas. That is the purview of the Federal Communications Commission.  

“This is an area where the federal government has taken a hard line,” Kahn said. “There are a lot of limitations.” 

Cities cannot require more review than the Telecommunications Act of 1996 demands, she said. 

“We can require that an applicant demonstrate (the antennas are) in compliance,” she said. 

Nextel Corporation, the company locating the antennas on the theater, had a consultant send Schwartzburd a report indicating the compliance of the devices. 

“(The) exposure levels are in full compliance with current FCC public safety standards and are, in fact, substantially lower than the prevailing public health and safety standards would allow,” wrote Jerrold T. Bushberg of Health and Medical Physics Consulting. Bushberg is a clinical professor in the department of Radiology, school of Medicine at UC Davis and the director of the Health Physics Programs of UC Davis’ Department of Environmental Health and Safety. 

Schwartzburd says the national standards are probably OK. But, he said he wants to know who checks to make sure that the antennas, in fact, emit the degree of radiation that the telecommunications company says they do. 

And, he argues that nobody is looking into the cumulative effects of multiple antennas. “On Solano Avenue, three blocks west of the Alameda, there’s an office building with big ugly antennas.” Schwartzburd said. 

When asked about calculating the cumulative effects, Rhodes said it would be a difficult task to gather the information about where all the antennas in the city are located. That’s because antenna permits are filed with the building permit. There is no separate list kept of these antennas. 

“This is the first time anyone has raised the issue,” Rhodes said. 

At some point, he added, the city will put that information onto the city’s computerized mapping system. 

He added, however, that the cumulative effects are not relevant. Once a person is more than 10 feet from the antenna, the radiation level is not a danger. “It’s dispersed so broadly in the atmosphere,” Rhodes said, noting, however, that in Europe the standards for emitting radiation are more stringent. 

Meanwhile Schwartzburd and his neighbors are studying the question and banning together in anticipation of the hearing that will follow the appeal. 

“I don’t know if the amount of radiation is enough to bother us,” he conceded. But the time the community gains from delaying the approval and the understanding they could get in the meantime – including how to fight the antennas – could calm the anxieties. 

But for the moment Schwartzburd says, “As a psychologist, I can tell that (the proposed antennas) have created a lot of anxiety in people.”  

A neighborhood meeting to meet with representatives of Nextel is tentatively set for 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Call 524-0121 for information. have until Aug. 15 to file the appeal. That will set in motion a public hearing before the Zoning Adjustments Board. 

Vivian Kahn, interim deputy director of planning, says a city has only minimal power to regulate the antennas. 

A city cannot prohibit them, but can regulate them for aesthetics, she said. The antennas atop the Oaks Theater, for example, will be hidden from public view. 

Cities can also dictate where the devices are cited. Berkeley’s 1996 “Wireless Telecommunications Antenna Guidelines” does just this. 

“Wireless communication antennas are discouraged from being located on buildings containing residential uses in residential zones and on residential uses in any zoning district, because of the visual impacts and because the use is inconsistent with the purposes of the residential zoning districts, which is to recognize and protect the existing pattern of residential development in the city’s residentially-zoned areas, in accordance with the city’s General Plan.” 

Schwartzburd, who owns a cellular phone, agrees that antennas should not be banned. But he argues that Solano Avenue, adjacent to a school and residences, is not an appropriate location. 

Besides, Schwartzburd is not nearly as worried about what the antennas look like, as what they might be doing to the community’s health. 

“There is research evidence, in a field in which there is still some controversy, indicating that under various conditions such radiation is a health risk for cancer and other harmful biological effects,” says a leaflet Schwartzburd and his neighbors have distributed in the area of the theater. 

The city, however, can play no role in regulating the safely aspects of the antennas. That is the purview of the Federal Communications Commission.  

“This is an area where the federal government has taken a hard line,” Kahn said. “There are a lot of limitations.” 

Cities cannot require more review than the Telecommunications Act of 1996 demands, she said. 

“We can require that an applicant demonstrate (the antennas are) in compliance,” she said. 

Nextel Corporation, the company locating the antennas on the theater, had a consultant send Schwartzburd a report indicating the compliance of the devices. 

“(The) exposure levels are in full compliance with current FCC public safety standards and are, in fact, substantially lower than the prevailing public health and safety standards would allow,” wrote Jerrold T. Bushberg of Health and Medical Physics Consulting. Bushberg is a clinical professor in the department of Radiology, school of Medicine at UC Davis and the director of the Health Physics Programs of UC Davis’ Department of Environmental Health and Safety. 

Schwartzburd says the national standards are probably OK. But, he said he wants to know who checks to make sure that the antennas, in fact, emit the degree of radiation that the telecommunications company says they do. 

And, he argues that nobody is looking into the cumulative effects of multiple antennas. “On Solano Avenue, three blocks west of the Alameda, there’s an office building with big ugly antennas.” Schwartzburd said. 

When asked about calculating the cumulative effects, Rhodes said it would be a difficult task to gather the information about where all the antennas in the city are located. That’s because antenna permits are filed with the building permit. There is no separate list kept of these antennas. 

“This is the first time anyone has raised the issue,” Rhodes said. 

At some point, he added, the city will put that information onto the city’s computerized mapping system. 

He added, however, that the cumulative effects are not relevant. Once a person is more than 10 feet from the antenna, the radiation level is not a danger. “It’s dispersed so broadly in the atmosphere,” Rhodes said, noting, however, that in Europe the standards for emitting radiation are more stringent. 

Meanwhile Schwartzburd and his neighbors are studying the question and banning together in anticipation of the hearing that will follow the appeal. 

“I don’t know if the amount of radiation is enough to bother us,” he conceded. But the time the community gains from delaying the approval and the understanding they could get in the meantime – including how to fight the antennas – could calm the anxieties. 

But for the moment Schwartzburd says, “As a psychologist, I can tell that (the proposed antennas) have created a lot of anxiety in people.”  

A neighborhood meeting to meet with representatives of Nextel is tentatively set for 7 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Call 524-0121 for information.