Kevin Barile has a simple solution for people opposed to cell phone towers in their neighborhoods: Turn off your phones.

"We are here because of you guys," said Barile, president of Ridan Industries, which builds cell phone towers to meet demand from phone companies and their customers. "Don't want us here? Don't hit send."

Barile's task is to find where coverage is worst and build a tower there. With the increasing popularity of cell phones, more calls to the same towers creates holes in service.

But more towers where people live is also an entree to the opposition Barile has seen in the past few years. Neighbors living next to a potential tower site often rebel, Barile said, but usually come around as they learn more.

In some cases, though, Barile has used the federal courts to get his way. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandates performance from cell phone companies, and so it also limits the power of local government to stop new towers. And that infuriates opponents.

"We have no grounds, and Kevin knows it," said Peter Richardson, who is leading a protest against a new Ridan tower at Palm Lake Christian Church right next to Northwest Elementary School on 22nd Avenue N. "That's what's got the community so upset."

Barile has yet to even apply to build the tower but has already attended several meetings with the Disston Heights neighbors.

He says he's trying to be a good neighbor, but residents lump his Tampa-based company into bad feelings about the church and conspiracies about the Pinellas County School Board, St. Petersburg City Council and even national politics.

Barile saw similar opposition in the Pinellas Point area, but has approval to build a tower at Skyway Plaza on 62nd Avenue S. Some neighbors there raised health concerns, but later emphasized aesthetic concerns and property values in opposing special zoning for the tower.

Other neighbors felt the opposite.

"A whole lot of us that live south and east of that shopping center have poor cell reception," said John Bagg, former president of the Greater Pinellas Point Civic Association, which endorsed the new tower. "We want to see a tower."

There are about 200 cell antennas throughout Pinellas County, with about 150 of them mounted on towers, the rest on existing buildings.

Richardson is mounting a campaign about the safety of a Ridan tower near a school. He says Ridan should build its tower in Northwest Park instead of near a school, or that the company should build several smaller towers in surrounding areas rather than one in his neighborhood.

"We're not saying it's going to cause cancer," he said. "We're saying you don't know it's not, so don't put it by a school."

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates cell phones, says towers are safe with appropriate precautions. There are already six of them on Pinellas schools property, though the School Board doesn't want any more built.

Richardson points to studies hinting at genetic damage and reviews of studies indicating insufficient research. But his own research also shows that cell phones themselves are thousands of times more dangerous than towers, which place antennas 150 feet in the air pointed outward.

The further away an antenna is the less harmful its radiation, which is why a phone is more of a risk.

To that point, Barile said more towers are safer than fewer towers because a phone has to work harder to reach a distant tower, increasing the radiation the user receives from their handset.

He's become familiar with what he calls an arc to neighbors' opposition, which starts with health issues and moves to appearance and property.

Government has little discretion regarding health and property values, focusing mainly on demonstrated need.

Federal permission is no comfort to Richardson and others who think the government is complacent in providing a service of unknown danger because it is big business.

As the world aims toward ubiquitous wireless connectivity for everything from phone calls to the Internet and even handheld television, opponents get more upset even while they use their own wireless tools.

"We're not Luddites," Richardson said. "I have a cell phone."

And Barile answers their calls, despite the squabbles."We are going to win," he said, "because there's no other place to build, and everyone needs a cell phone."