NYCs new monstrous 5G cell towers get nasty reception in ritzy neighborhood: It would look good in Dubai
This cell tower’s reception hasn’t been great.Upper West Siders bashed a massive, futuristic-looking 5G cell tower casting a shadow over Columbus Avenue — with some locals calling it out-of-place eyesore while others are hatching government conspiracy theories.“It looks monstrous,” Pam Gould, 58, said of the three-story tall tower that was recently built as part of a citywide connectivity expansion.“It’s definitely ugly.
It looks like they threw it there without any thought.I don’t like it.“It overshadows everything around it, like the trees,” said Gould, who has lived in the quiet neighborhood for 20 years.
“Don’t make it so obvious.Put it behind the trees.
It doesn’t fit in with this neighborhood.”The tower — which stands 32-feet high on the avenue sidewalk between West 94th and 95th Streets — was installed in the old-school neighborhood with many long -time residents in March as part of the ongoing Link5G project to build out the city’s high-speed internet infrastructure.About 200 towers have been installed so far, with plans for about 2,000 to go in across the five boroughs in the coming years.In addition to supporting the 5G infrastructure, the towers allow passersby to charge devices with USB outlets or connect to locally broadcast wi-fi.“Link5G provides the necessary infrastructure to increase capacity, future-proof New York City’s telecommunications grid, and prepare it for new technology for decades ahead,” a LinkNYC spokesperson said.“The entire network needs to be built out in a way so neighborhoods that don’t have access to connectivity can have access, and that requires selecting locations like the one at Columbus Avenue between West 94th and 95th streets.”But many Upper West Siders are not impressed.“When I saw it a month ago I was thinking, ‘What the heck is that? It was a total shock to me,” said Tara Fray, another neighbor of 20 years.
“It would look good in Dubai.Everything there is artific...