A group of Riverdale residents says a proposed cell-phone transmitter could become a threat to their health.

The residents say a wireless carrier has leased the right to install a transmitter atop a lamppost outside their building, which they say would be a medical risk.

"They always give the analogy of [the transmitter] putting off less electromagnetic energy than a microwave," says David Kappas, a tenant at the building. "But a microwave isn't 10 feet from your window, going 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

The city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications says the wireless carrier is working to see if a pole across the street can be used for the transmitter.