You can dress them up but you can't hide their radiation -- camouflaged cell phone towers are now proposed in Portland’s Pearl District.

The proposal in question comes from Verizon Wireless.

The company wants to hide a rooftop cell phone antenna at NW 10th Ave. and Flanders St. inside either a fake chimney or what appears to be two fake exhaust vents.

This would hide the antenna from the plain view of hundreds of condo residents.

Portland city planners want neighbors’ advice on the proposal.

“We're looking for feedback,” said city planner Shawn Wood.

Residents within 150 feet of the proposed antenna have been notified. They have three weeks to comment on the attractiveness of the proposal. The politician in charge is watching.

“I will tell you that it's a major issue for me having urban clutter because of these cell phone towers,” said City Commissioner Randy Leonard.

Leonard oversees the city’s Bureau of Development Services.

He likes the idea of using fake props to blunt the visual blight of cell phone towers in residential neighborhoods.

But he wants cell phone companies to do a better job of co-locating their equipment so neighborhoods don't have to ponder so many new antennae.

As for the health impacts of placing a disguised cell phone antenna among hundreds of condo residents, OHSU toxicologist Fred Berman says the risk is very low.

However, for anyone on the rooftop itself, being to too close to the camouflaged radio waves could be dangerous.

“It's like a microwave oven,” said Berman. “I would think that should not be allowed because there would then be the possibility for excessive exposure.”

Berman says if anyone has a concern about radiation exposure from nearby cell phone towers they can have their home tested for such levels.

Verizon declined to comment on it's proposed cell phone antenna.

According to the city, 80 percent of Portlanders use cell phones. That's about 400,000 cell phones currently in use.

More than half of all 911 calls come from cell phones, currently 30,000 Portlanders people have only a cell phone and no land line phone.

Link: State info on occupational health hazards