Earlier this winter, a Brooklyn man died on the Adirondack Northway after his car went off the road. Though he chose of his own free will to drive on the highway in the middle of one of the worst ice storms in a decade, responsiblity for his death was blamed on the lack of cell phone towers along that stretch of Interstate 87.
In the aftermath of this unfortunate death, many commentators felt it necessary to engage in a campaign of borderline slander/libel against environmentalists. According to critics, people who cared about our natural environment were guilty of standing in the way of progress and, in most vile fashion, caring more about trees than people. State Sen. Betty Little implied that evil tree huggers were standing in the way of the God-given right to use her BlackBerry on every square inch of New York state territory.
Critics insisted that there was no way the current APA plan (which actually AUTHORIZED several smaller cell towers) was workable for a for-profit company.
Yet now I read that a cell company will be bringing coverage to the Northway.
Verizon Wireless will be funding the towers without government subsidy, noted The Post-Star.
The agreement was generally praised by environmental groups like the Adirondack Council and the Sierra Club.
I expect that now we will a flood of apologies directed at those who realized all along that all life, both human and wild, could be protected in the Adirondack Park. All that was needed was a little effort.
1 comment:
You know, your average cell tower isn't even that big or extravagant. If placed correctly in the mountains, you'd barely see it. And frankly, I am not of the opnion that one metal rod in the middle of the mountais ruins the entire view. If anything, they become ugly and overbearing when they try to make them look like "trees."
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