iBurst erects 20m Tower, hopes residents won't notice

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

dantex

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 28, 2007
Messages
127
Reaction score
10
So, iBurst has disregarded official procedure and erected a tower in the middle of a highly populated residential area in Fourways before the record of decision to residents/objectors and before the 30 days to appeal the decision is issued.

Residents started noticing some activity on the site and began querying with the relevant authorities as to why the construction had begun before the amended Environmental Impact Assessment record of decision had be issued. Seems iBurst got wind of this and quickly finished the installation in 1 day!

Not bad, I bet some of your customers would appreciate that level of urgency when it comes to their account/coverage/performance issues.
Now we have a 20 meter high tower, roughly 50 meters away from our house, lovely! I wonder what the poor sods living less than 5 meters away from the tower think of this addition to their neighbourhood, erm, back garden?

For everybody's information, this tower has been placed on the property of the Fourways Memorial Cemetery on one of it's servitudes. This cemetery is surrounded by sectional title,cluster developments and houses, see below google maps link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...4482,27.982795&spn=0.003611,0.005177&t=h&z=18
The cemetery is in the top left quadrant, while the tower is placed on the bottom right corner of that quadrant, just off Memorial road. Notice the townhouse complex and residences, a few meters away, on either side of the tower.

I don't expect a worthwhile response to this post from the iBurst rep on this forum, as official correspondence from concerned residents has been flatly ignored by iBurst management anyway.

Now excuse me, while I go watch the adjacent trees to this tower wither and die (together with our property values) before summer arrives.
 
Just give everyone in a 500m radius free iburst internet, maybe even a cable straight to the tower and everyone is happy, right? ;)
 
Before any new tower can be erected (this is an iBurst tower, BTW), a complex process must be followed to get permission to put it up.

I've just confirmed that this process was followed (quite a while ago) and that we have the required EIA and other certificates for this site.
 
I would be more worried about living so close to a cemetery.
OT: Thats development for you, if you dont like it i guess you could sell your house and go live up in the mountains. Just my opinion.
 
PeterCH said:
Hey leukemia for free internet, only in SA can that be a deal.
Click to expand...

You'd think if there were proper and valid evidence of health issues surrounding a cellphone tower and not just mere speculation [like chocolate causing cancer] then ALL towers in the world would be moved and shut down. This is not only in SA, in fact i'd wager the more densely populated countries [such as europe] have much bigger issues then.

You will also have to consider that these same "studies" have found it affects abnormal growth/DNA in animals and plants , specifically FARM animals ...yes the same animals/plants you EAT . So even if the towers moved to rural areas, you'll get cancer anyway...right? ;)

Either way i'm not saying who is wrong or right, but it's pretty obvious there is not enough evidence , otherwise it would've been disallowed straight off the bat...i mean think about it, if it was FACT that a cellphone tower caused [name disease] , why on earth would any municipality/country allow it? Heck they can't even find -real- evidence about brain cancer and having a cellphone against your ear..something people were going wild about a few years back, you'd think THAT is more likely to cause something than a tower...
 
Last edited:
jannievanzyl said:
Before any new tower can be erected (this is an iBurst tower, BTW), a complex process must be followed to get permission to put it up.

I've just confirmed that this process was followed (quite a while ago) and that we have the required EIA and other certificates for this site.
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding, it appears that the 'amended' EIA was not sent to any of the objectors, this means that they did not have the opportunity to object, doesn't sound like the process was followed to closure.
To your knowledge Jannie, did iBurst or the relevant Government Department receive any objections?
 
Last edited:
diabolus said:
You'd think if there were proper and valid evidence of health issues surrounding a cellphone tower and not just mere speculation [like chocolate causing cancer] then ALL towers in the world would be moved and shut down. This is not only in SA, in fact i'd wager the more densely populated countries [such as europe] have much bigger issues then.

You will also have to consider that these same "studies" have found it affects abnormal growth/DNA in animals and plants , specifically FARM animals ...yes the same animals/plants you EAT . So even if the towers moved to rural areas, you'll get cancer anyway...right? ;)

Either way i'm not saying who is wrong or right, but it's pretty obvious there is not enough evidence , otherwise it would've been disallowed straight off the bat...i mean think about it, if it was FACT that a cellphone tower caused [name disease] , why on earth would any municipality/country allow it? Heck they can't even find -real- evidence about brain cancer and having a cellphone against your ear..something people were going wild about a few years back, you'd think THAT is more likely to cause something than a tower...
Click to expand...

It's all relative to the amount of energy put out by the device in question.
There is no way a cell phone has enough energy to cause damage to organic tissue, but a cell mast probably has enough energy to cause some sort of damage to the immediate vicinity's fauna and flora.

Flip side of the coin, if these towers do no harm, why aren't property owners clamouring to get a MTN/Voda/iBurst towers in their properties? Could be quite profitable...
 
Last edited:
Mental-Tree said:
I would be more worried about living so close to a cemetery.
OT: Thats development for you, if you dont like it i guess you could sell your house and go live up in the mountains. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

May I suggest that future installations such as this could be done on or near your place of residence? Or are you already up in the mountains? :p
 
dantex said:
May I suggest that future installations such as this could be done on or near your place of residence? Or are you already up in the mountains? :p
Click to expand...

Lol I've hear that MTN pay R5000 a month if you let them install one of their towers on you're property. If that's the case I wouldn't mind at all:D.
 
Mental-Tree said:
Lol I've hear that MTN pay R5000 a month if you let them install one of their towers on you're property. If that's the case I wouldn't mind at all:D.
Click to expand...

R5K?! Not too shabby, hope it covers my Medical Aid increase, when we inform them that a cell tower is just outside my bedroom window. :confused:
 
Typical NIMBY response.

Many want

perfect cellphone service
Perfect iBurst
Perfect whatever

as long as it is not in their backyards.

BTW - what is radiation density (or whatever it is called or measured as) a WiFi access point generates compared to the radiation one would receive from a cellphone/iBurst tower?
 
Hmm, I also have a massive Telkom tower (much bigger than any iBurst one) about 70m from my house. Wonder how that ever got approved? It's literally opposite other houses, Probably has been for 10+ years, wouldn't it have been very, very easy to check for any physical harm that these towers are doing over the years?
 
dantex said:
It's all relative to the amount of energy put out by the device in question.
Click to expand...
It's MORE relative how close the you/something is to the radiation source.
There is no way a cell phone has enough energy to cause damage to organic tissue, but a cell mast probably has enough energy to cause some sort of damage to the immediate vicinity's fauna and flora.
Click to expand...
Yes, if it was right up against the source of the radiation. In the typical home setting we call this a "microwave oven". Just for you: a visual of the inverse-square law. This is also why we can be in the presence of high-voltage mains towers - another construct that has yet to be reliably proven to cause disease.

But we DO get skin cancer from the mother of all radiation sources and medical science really seems to support this one - the Sun.

Flip side of the coin, if these towers do no harm, why aren't property owners clamouring to get a MTN/Voda/iBurst towers in their properties? Could be quite profitable...
Click to expand...
Oh, likely the usual: going baa-baa-baa from the FUD that "everyone knows" about towers, that it's fugly, the shortage of WAF (wife approval factor) to the skyline modification.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X