Four-Eight-Four [dot org]

There’s been a good bit of controversy ’round here recently about proposed locations for two cell towers. One location would have been downtown (and recently, Verizon withdrew its application to build the tower); the second would be build near Missionary Ridge, and opponents say it would obstruct the view from Bragg’s Reservation (part of Point Park).

Yes, towers are pretty ugly things (well, save something like the Eiffel Tower). But … recently, a letter to the Chattanoogan suggested disguising the towers as trees.

Um, unless the proverbial “they” has gotten significantly better at doing this … it’s a bad idea.

In Cary, NC (the Raleigh/Durham area’s own little outpost of suburban busybody hell), there is a tower off of I-40 that is “disguised” as a tree. It’s about 30 feet taller than the trees around it, and looks rather like a mutant pine tree that somebody transplanted from somewhere close to Chernobyl. It’s so bad that it actually looks worse (in my opinion) than a “normal” tower … mostly because people cruising by immediately look at it and think “What in the WORLD is that thing?”

I’ll have to see if I can convince my brother to take some pictures of the monstrosity …