Holyoke Residents Continue Cingular Cell Site Battle

Mt. Holyoke neighbors brightened for a moment last week when they learned that Cingular Wireless has halted the cell tower installation on their street until June 13 as the company investigates moving the apparatus elsewhere. But they were discouraged when they discovered Verizon workmen (who installed the T1 cable) finishing the work Saturday afternoon. ‘We thought that we were in the clear, but saw the Verizon utility truck out in front of the tower, with the intention of pushing ahead,’ said Mt. Holyoke neighbor Karen Dawn. The Cingular equipment, consisting of four 5-ft. cellular antennas, transporters and three vertical antennas attached to an outrigger high above, was installed on an existing telephone pole in the 300 block of Mt. Holyoke two weeks ago. In a Joint Pole Agreement, cellular companies can piggyback onto an existing telephone pole in an administrative procedure that requires no regulatory restraints, nor public meetings. Mt. Holyoke neighbors are fighting the company’s placement of the equipment, which they consider an ‘aesthetic and emotional encroachment,’ as reported in the June 2 Palisadian-Post. ‘We had hoped we might have Verizon’s support in requesting a break from the work just until the issue is sorted out,’ Dawn said Wednesday. Earlier this week, Mt. Holyoke resident James Holcomb said that he had spoken to Kathleen Lee from Cingular, who said she was trying to get the site moved but was waiting for approval from her higher-ups and ‘that she thinks she has a solution that will make the neighbors happy.’ While the neighbors value and support the need for improved communication via cell phone coverage in the bluffs area, they question the positioning of the tower. ‘I hope Palisadians realize that the selection of this site is clearly for everybody making their way up and down PCH,’ Dawn said. ‘The Verizon installer said he had never seen a tower this high and guessed that it would provide service all the way up to Malibu.’