Better, Safer, Workable Alternatives
As stated in our mission statement,
AWPG's objectives do not include opposition to cell phone service
provision to our region. Instead, we advocate appropriate measures to
meet this end that respect our rights as citizens and taxpayers and that
also make the most sense fiscally for the community.
Especially in light of the virtually unanimous disapproval that
has met Sprint's cell-tower-in-a-back-yard plan, we must consider
reasonable alternatives to intrusive, unwarranted, unsafe, fiscally
irresponsible industrial construction in a residential neighborhood -
several are listed below:
- If one or more new cell phone towers are absolutely necessary -
and this has yet to be proven conclusively - construct them on
secluded, municipal-owned open land to minimize residential intrusion
and generate tax revenues for the Town. In the current scenario, a
single Easton taxpayer would benefit directly from Sprint while the
municipal tax base actually shrank due to diminished property values for
that same residence as well as residences throughout the neighborhood.
- Eliminate the cell phone tower plan in favor of less intrusive micro-cell antennae mounted on existing structures.
- Eliminate the cell phone tower plan in favor of planned co-location with existing commercial structures.
- Eliminate the cell phone tower plan in favor of rapidly
approaching new GPS satellite technology obviates need for massive
towers.
There are alternative technologies, some mature and some quickly
maturing, that will very possibly render cell phone towers obsolete
within a short time frame. The Sprint plan would have a long-lasting
negative impact in a residential neighborhood, and all the while based
around a technology that may soon become irrelevant.
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