Cell Phone Towers in Ridgewood

First it was the installation of solar panels on utility poles and now it is cell phone towers which are making headlines in Ridgewood. Both are technological advances designed to make our lives more sustainable and convenient so on first glance why are residents making such a fuss?

Of course, it is easy for me to judge as I live in Forest Hills, NY and have towers all around me, as well as jets from La Guardia airport passing overhead on a regular basis. You could say this makes me immune to the beauty of nature and the tranquility of a quiet day. Though I knew what I was getting into when I moved here and scenic beauty and quiet afternoons were not part of the bargain of living in the Big Apple.

My hunch is that residents of Ridgewood are up in arms because the rules of the Village are seemingly being changed. I'm not here to argue about Master Plans or the particulars of zoning laws. I'll just point out that if you asked a resident whether they ever thought there would be solar panels in their southern facing front yards or cell phone towers on empty lots, they probable would have said no. It's not part of the idyllic image which Ridgewood cultivates so carefully.

It will be interesting to see how this works out, especially in an era where sources of new tax revenue are few and far between. These cell phone towers do bring in rental money and once you put up one for T-Mobile the other Telco Carriers will come with their checkbooks open. I could see this as being hard for a cash-strapped village government to turn down.