As of: February 27, 2024, 7:05 p.m
By: Frederic Rist
Comments
Press
Split
The town of Sittenbach lies in a depression.
Cell phone reception is therefore poor – and remains so.
© Wagner
In order to improve cell phone reception in Sittenbach, a cell phone antenna would actually be needed in the center of the town.
The local council and many citizens therefore welcomed Telekom's initiative to set up a corresponding mast.
In the end, however, the project's critics prevailed.
Odelzhausen/Sittenbach
– “The mobile phone antenna on the roof of the fire station in Sittenbach may not be built,” announced Mayor Markus Trinkl on Monday at the local council meeting in Odelzhausen.
A success for Marli Kugler.
After all, the spokeswoman for the Sittenbach citizens' initiative had been fighting against the construction of the antenna in the middle of the residential area for several months.
At an information event last September, she spoke out clearly against the construction “in the middle of a residential area”.
Unfortunately, she could not be reached yesterday for a current comment.
In the spring of last year she was able to win numerous supporters with a signature campaign, whereupon the municipality decided to carry out a citizen survey on this topic in the Sittenbach district.
This formed the basis for the local council decision.
Until February 12th, all adult citizens in the Sittenbach district had the opportunity to express their opinion on the question: “Are you in favor of a cell phone antenna being erected on the roof of the Sittenbach Volunteer Fire Department building?” Out of 487, 264 citizens took part.
Of these, 117 voted “yes”, 146 voted “no”, and one vote was invalid.
Mayor considers many arguments to be “incomprehensible”
“It is therefore clear to us that we will take the results of the citizen survey into account and will not change anything about it,” explains Mayor Markus Trinkl in an interview with the Dachauer Nachrichten.
But the community leader is not entirely happy with the outcome.
“The arguments such as a possible reduction in the value of the properties are particularly incomprehensible to me,” he explains.
After all, there are also numerous mobile phone antennas in Munich and there is no sign of any impairment there.
He also spoke to Dr. at the community information event in September last year.
Thomas Kurz from the Bavarian State Office for the Environment said that it was much more harmful to carry your cell phone in your pocket than to build such a cell phone mast.
Communications engineer Harald Schönpflug also drew the same picture in 2022 at an information event on nationwide mobile phone expansion in the Dachau district at the Dachau district office.
It has been proven that it is significantly more dangerous if there is no mobile phone network in a place.
This is because the cell phone and the mast transmit in a two-way connection, and the further away the mast is, the more cell phone radiation the cell phone sends.
“In principle, it is healthier if the cell phone is closer to the radio mast,” emphasized Schönpflug back then.
Citizens had turned to the community to request a better cell phone network
Not all citizens are against the construction of a mobile phone antenna, which is actually necessary due to the unfavorable valley location, explains Trinkl.
A few years ago, Sittenbach local spokesman and local council member Robert Wohlmut approached the community with the request of some residents to improve cell phone reception.
The community then turned to Telekom, which would have built a radio antenna at no cost to the community.
The only condition: that the antenna be built close to the center on the roof of the fire station, as building a radio mast further outside would have been too expensive.
“Of course you now have no choice but to accept the decision of the citizen survey.
That’s why we have a democracy,” says Wohlmut.
For him, the concerns about radiation exposure are a question of faith and philosophy on which he does not want to make any judgment.
But the fact is that there are some places in Sittenbach where people have no cell phone reception at all - and “of course they are now looking down the tubes”.
For him, this decision fits with the current discussion about renewable energies: “Everyone always wants to have everything, but no one wants a wind turbine on their own doorstep.”
For Mayor Trinkl and the local councilors, the issue of cell phone masts is now over.
“We won’t dwell on it any further now.
“Citizens have to live with it as it is,” says Trinkl.
For many Sittenbach residents, this means that they continue to live in a place without a decent cell phone connection.
My news
Association wants to save pub read
500 items already saved - surprise for customers
Some cars in the Dachau district were scratched
The end of the poplars on Waldschwaigweglesen
1 hour ago
Shopping with a QR code - New supermarket with regional productsread
Several thefts from cars in the Dachaulesen district
You can read DN reporter Frederic Rist's opinion on the topic here.