Mysterious towers are being installed all over New York: residents are scared, although the purpose of the devices is rather harmless

An unusually futuristic tower has recently appeared on the corner of Putnam Street and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. A gray column surmounted by a perforated shroud, a whopping 32 feet (9,75 m) high, towers over the three-story brick building behind it. What are these mysterious towers, the publication said The New York Times.

Marion Little, 17, who owns the Stripper Stain & Supplies hardware store that has been on the corner for XNUMX years, said neither he nor his neighbors had received a warning. First there were workers outside, then a tower appeared.

“We were shocked because we had no idea what it was,” Little said.

Since it's right outside his store, people keep asking him about it.

“They emailed me, they called me on the weekends, they wrote on Facebook like “Hey, what is this?”, And I answer: “I have no idea,” he explains.

This is a new 5G antenna tower built by LinkNYC, the latest piece of equipment as part of the Big Apple's radical technology upgrade.

New York City has an agreement with CityBridge, a LinkNYC team, that sees the installation of 2000 5G towers over the next few years to help eliminate the city's "internet deserts". Ninety percent will be in the underserved areas of the metropolitan area - the neighborhoods of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and above 96th Street in Manhattan.

Once the towers are activated, residents will have access to free digital calls and free high-speed Wi-Fi, as well as 5G service. Many of the tower locations were previously home to pay phones.

According to the city's Office of Technology and Innovation, 40 percent of New York City households lack the ability to combine home and mobile broadband, including 18% of residents (more than 1,5 million people) have neither.

5G towers, as well as underground fiber optic cables, will provide infrastructure that carriers such as AT&T and Verizon can use to improve the customer experience. Most of the towers have not yet been activated.

But as is often the case when something new hits the streets of New York, people seem overwhelmed by the big buildings and some raise unfounded fears about 5G.

They are concerned about the sheer size of the towers and, in some cases, the spoiled view from the windows on the third floor. Little also questioned the practicality of placing the tower on the corner of the B26 bus stop: "Buses stop here," he said.

Another 5G tower appeared in Fort Greene, at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and Myrtle Avenue, and again at the bus stop, but B69. It looms next to a three-story residential building.

Mark Maleki, 26, who moved to New York in mid-October from Richmond, Virginia, now sees the tower from his third-floor bedroom window.

“I didn’t even quite understand what it was,” he said.

A little further down the street is Renée Collymore, a 50-year-old Brooklyn resident who said her family has lived "four generations deep in this area." She's been wary of the tower ever since it came out this summer.

The head of the Vanderbilt Avenue Neighborhood Association, Collymore, observed:

“I have never heard any mention of residents asking for a tower to be built where we live.” She plans to hold a meeting on this matter.

In Manhattan's Chinatown, where a tower sprang up at the corner of Mulberry and Bayard Streets, one of the residents of a nearby house called it a "monster."

"Who wants to look at something like that?" she asked.

The towers aren't the only 5G devices being built in New York. They are not always installed separately; in some cases, 5G transmitters are hung on traffic lights or street lamps in the city.

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In late September, outside the six-story brick building on the Upper East Side where 32-year-old Chelsea Formica lives with her husband Joe and their young son, the sounds of work could be heard.

According to the company, workers at telecommunications company ExteNet installed a roughly human-sized cylindrical object: a 5G antenna 63 inches (1,6 m) high and 21 inches (0,5 m) in diameter. It is accompanied by a box 38 inches (1 m) high, 16 inches (0,4 m) wide.

The imposing antenna is mounted atop a thin pole three stories high, directly in front of Miss Formica's living room window. In addition, she is only a few steps away from where their 5-month-old baby sleeps, which makes Formica uncomfortable.

“People say it's safe,” she said. "We're just worried that the antenna is too close to my son's bedroom."

Alex Wyglinski, associate dean of graduate school and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said residents have nothing to worry about. He noted that 5G is non-ionizing radiation, at the opposite end of the spectrum from ionizing rays that people need protection from, such as ultraviolet and X-rays.

In addition, Dr. Wyglinski said that the tower “can't just throw energy all over the place. These will be hyper-focused points of energy heading straight for your mobile phone."

He explained that, like street lights and traffic lights, "the towers will be integrated into the urban landscape."

Formica and her next-door neighbor, Virginie Glenzer, who also has an antenna visible from her window, took a measuring tape and found that the newly installed tower was just under 10 feet from the building, a distance that would normally notify the community.

Glenzer and Formica contacted their local representatives and handed out leaflets urging their neighbors to do the same. They want the antenna removed, or at least moved across the street, next to the Asphalt Green field, and not placed near an apartment building.

Julie Menin, a New York City Council member representing District 5, said she asked the city on behalf of her constituents to hire a third party to test antenna emissions and make sure they meet federal regulations. The city's Office of Technology and Innovation agreed to do so.

The city also asked ExteNet to move the antenna, but the company said it had no plans to do so. Formica says she won't be comfortable living next to the tower once it's turned on. She's not sure she'll move out, but she'll still consider the option.

As for Miss Glenzer, she pointed to a few crystals with a smile, which she placed in a bowl on the windowsill in front of the antenna: "They should remove the radiation."