Public officials bow to public pressure.
Almost everyone, it seems, uses a cell phone these days, but the towers that allow cell phones to operate obviously are not as popular.
Bowing to public opinion, the Urbana school board voted to end discussions this week with U.S. Cellular over the proposed installation of a new 150-foot cell tower between the school district's indoor aquatic center and Urbana Middle School.
The board acted after hearing a variety of complaints about the proposed tower — that it was inappropriate for the district even to discuss the matter, that the tower would be unsightly, that the tower raised health and safety issues.
But what it all boiled down to was NIMBY — not in my backyard.
The school board's decision pulled the plug on what likely would have been a long political battle over the cell tower. If the school board had gone along with the plan, the issue would have moved to the Urbana Plan Commission for approval of a special use permit for the tower's construction. Elected officials almost certainly would have gotten involved. Citizens would have had plenty of opportunities to kill the deal.
The school board's vote, however, short-circuited the process, costing the district $1 million in payments over 20 years.
Board members, of course, are entitled to do what they want, and it's no surprise they responded to the critics in the way they did.
But cell phones, which are growing more sophisticated and require more supportive infrastructure, have to have towers if they are to work properly. What's the solution to that challenge? Oh, yeah, put those new towers in someone else's backyard.
It is very unfortunate that school board cowered away from something that could have benefited a lot of students in the urbana school district. The residents ought to occupy the urbana school district school board meeting demanding that they stop with all of the politics and start really thinking how they can serve the kids of urbana. I recently moved out of town and the local high school where I moved has a cell phone tower on its campus, but the tower serves two purposes one is of course a cell tower the second is a football field light. To address all of those who say it will distract from your view you are already looking at the football field lights so you cant complain about this one. To those who say that ice may fall off and hurt someone they have these neat things called fences that go around objects to keep people out. As for the legal issues I know that Urbana is not the pioneer in cell towers on public land so there are plenty of other school districts that could be contacted to obtain some of the legal information that everyone is asking about as well as the lawyers that the district has on contract. Health concerns are a joke there are more radio waves coming out of the cell phone being held up to your head than from a tower 100 feet away from you.
Good luck Urbana your overly liberal ways are going to be your downfall. Just look at the schools, the crime, and the wasted money the city spends on things only a few people will ever use or care about.