It appears things are changing when it comes to public opinion on communication towers.
Gone, for the most part, are the days when proposals for cell phone and-or Internet towers raise the ire of standing-room-only crowds at public meetings. In fact, at a public information session in Erin on Tuesday night, there was only one member of the public in attendance, and he was glad to learn a new Bell Mobility tower proposed in Ospringe would provide Internet and cell phone coverage in the area surrounding his home.
Anyone who has tried to make a cell phone call in Erin, particularly near Ospringe or in and around Hillsburgh, knows getting a signal is difficult, if not downright impossible.
And as the lone attendee at Tuesday night’s meeting lamented, many Erin residents choose to do their emailing or web browsing from work or another outside location rather than face the mind-numbing, tedious alternative of using dial up Internet.
Also fueling the apathy or support of Erin residents is the ideal location of Bell’s two towers outside urban areas, resulting in minimal visual distraction.
Of course that isn’t always the way things go, as was the case recently for a tower in Puslinch and a tower proposal in Guelph-Eramosa.
But nowadays, if the location is reasonable, the tree huggers, health-hazard zealots (whose claims are often unfounded anyway) and the not-in-my-backyarders crying “visual pollution” are largely outnumbered by straight thinking citizens who realize the towers are vital for both business and personal communications.
