Oceanside California hopes to dress up cell tower
By Sean Cooper 
posted Jul 18th 2007 11:45AM
posted Jul 18th 2007 11:45AM
As far as love hate relationships go, cell towers rank way up there. Everybody wants better mobile coverage without having to see an ugly tower peeking above the trees in their neighborhood. The Arts Commission from Oceanside, California, has set its sights on beautifying one particular tower that gets peeped by a few hundred thousand people a day from a nearby freeway. The plan would have the thing bedecked with netting and sea birds in an attempt to blend in with the pleasant coastal theme. We find that by simply staring at our feet and wearing ball caps all while chatting on our cells usually helps us ignore them. Good luck Oceanside.[Via textually.org]
There is a cell tower in Reston, Va (along Fairfax Co Parkway for you locals) which is painted brown and has fake "branches" to make it blend in with the trees around it. Don't know which carrier owns it, but I drove by it for a long time before I noticed it. It's not perfect, but it's disguised from a casual glance.
Like Chicago, I'm sure every other major city has some ritzy suburbs that absolutely refuse to let cell tower besmirch their beautiful landscape. In the towns of Glen Ellyn and Oak Park, the residents would apparently rather have to leave town to get cell reception than occasionally have to look at a small, unobtrusive white sculpture. How is it that someone hasn't invented a prettier-looking alternative? Seems like the perfect idea for an industrial design competition.
No big news here. Ericsson has been doing this for years in place like South Africa.