WI-FI
Thorold / Niagara Region (Ontario)
"Thorold is about to become Canada’s first completely wireless city and a test bed for the Technology, with every corner of the municipality linked to each other and to the world via the Internet."
(City of Thorold Mayor Henry D'Angela, Feb 2008)
THOROLD OPTS OUT OF AGREEMENT FOR WIRELESS SERVICE
Tiffany MayerSt Catharines Standard
July 3, 2008
Thorold’s Confederation Heights will be wired once again.
The Standard learned Wednesday that city council decided during an in-camera meeting last week to pull the plug on a one-year pilot project with ReliaClear Canada Inc. to provide free wireless broadband Internet service to the neighbourhood.
Mayor Henry D’Angela confirmed the decision.
However, because it was made behind closed doors for legal reasons, he was unable to say why the city opted out of the agreement just three months after narrowly voting in favour of the project.
The legal agreement between ReliaClear and Thorold states the city has the right to end the agreement at any time during the term, and at its sole discretion. It must give at least 30 days notice to ReliaClear.
That means the wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) transmitters, installed on lamp posts throughout the neighbourhood, will be removed by month’s end, much to D’Angela’s chagrin.
Read more...
April 10, 2008
Dear Mayor D'Angelo,
I am writing to you as a follow up to our telephone conversation on April 9th, 2008 regarding the wireless project taking place in Thorold.
I am forwarding websites and information as discussed yesterday, as provided at a health and safety conference held at Brock University.
There was a very similar situation to that of Thorold's in San Francisco and I am attaching a website http://w.weepinitiative.org/SNAFU.html for your information.
The http:/lw.weepinitiative.org
I would like to make an official request for Council to re-consider this wireless project for the health and safety of Thorold citizens.
I would also like to add that if it would be beneficial to have someone speak to Council, I am aware of someone who has addressed another city council in a proactive fashion. The goal of this was to raise awareness to council to prevent such projects like the one currently underway in Thorold from ocurring in the city.
On a larger scale. Dr. Havas proposes the idea of addressing a higher level of government at the minicipal level to combat the confusion and provide further discussion to a topic that does not appear to be public knowledge to date.
I look forward to your reply.
Kind regards,
Stephanie (Soccio-Marandola)
THOROLD CITY COUNCIL MEETING, MAY 20, 2008
PRESENTATION TO COUNCIL
WI-FI & HEALTH
Anca Gaston,
MA Brock University
PhD Candidate, University of Western Ontario
LINK to the Council Agenda of May 20th
Includes a letter from the wireless company to Mayor D'Angela, dated April 8th and titled Studies Show WiFi Radio Waves Are Not a Health Concern. There were no representatives from the wireless company in attendance.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF MEETING
Wi-Fi controversy reignited in Thorold The St.Catharines Standard
by: Tiffany Mayer
LETTER TO THE EDITOR IN RESPONSE TO THIS ARTICLE
WiFi transmits heavy debate NiagaraThisWeek
by: Danni Gresko
Council debates potential health effects of Wi-Fi Thorold News
by: Allison Smith
SUBSEQUENT MEDIA COVERAGE
Wi-Fi Worry
The St.Catharines Standard
by: Tiffany Mayer
While some are concerned wireless access to the Internet will lead to health woes, a Thorold company that installs the technology insists it is safe.
When white boxes started appearing on lampposts throughout Stephanie Soccio-Marandola's Thorold neighbourhood this spring, red flags immediately went up.
"There was an eeriness of what is that?" Soccio-Marandola said.
Turns out, they're transmitters of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology that Thorold council voted to have installed for at least a year in Confederation Heights.
It's the kind of feature that could make the techno-savvy living there log on to the Internet with glee -- and do it anywhere in their home, no cables attached.
But the very sight of those boxes still makes Soccio-Marandola uneasy and leaves her wondering if wireless access to the information superhighway is only going to lead to health problems down the road for her family and neighbours.
Read More....
Hard to escape the silent antagonist
'It's scary,' says woman who suffers from illness caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields
The St. Catharines Standard
by: Tiffany Mayer
Sue Parsons can't escape it. Everywhere she goes, it's there. A silent and invisible antagonist that essentially leaves her housebound.
But even there, the reprieve is minimal.
Parsons has been diagnosed with electrohypersensitivity, an illness caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields -- any wired or wireless technology or device -- with symptoms that mimic chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia.
That means even the most seemingly benign items we've learned not to be able to live without -- cordless phones, computers, televisions, microwaves, cellphones, wireless Internet -- take their toll on Parsons' physical health, leaving her in pain and in a mental fog.
And even the most seemingly benign activities, like grocery shopping, are exercises in agony. The freezers, lighting, scanners and other customers gabbing on their cellphones, can throw her balance and make her feet feel like lead.
Parsons, who does administrative work in Brock University's Alumni Relations department, has to work from home because all of the electromagnetic fields at the university and the 55 transmitters emitting radiation atop Schmon Tower put her in a daze, caused seizures and left her fatigued. (Brock has recently formed a joint health and safety sub-committee to further investigate potential adverse health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields).
Read More....