Posted on 12/16/2007 12:35:44 PM PST by Mr_Moonlight
Nearly a year after a Brooklyn man froze to death on the Adirondack Northway because he couldn't get cellphone service, the Spitzer administration has yet to fix the life-threatening problem.
Temperatures were well below zero when 63-year-old Alfred Langner's car went off the road in a treacherous 47-mile cell-phone “dead zone" last January. Unable to call for help, he succumbed to hypothermia 13 hours later, while his injured wife waited some 20 hours more before a passing state trooper noticed the vehicle.
But with the mercury dropping again, the dead zone remains - and the Spitzer team's foot-dragging is largely to blame.
True, some progress has been made. Spitzer's folks claim credit for brokering an agreement with Verizon to cover the zone with 11 cell towers.
But the towers won't be up until the middle or end of next year - far too late to do any good this winter. Indeed, the first tower only won final approval on Friday.
Such towers, see, require thorough environmental oversight from the Adirondack Park Agency - basically to ensure they don't spoil the view. (Greenie-griping is a chief reason why service is so spotty up there in the first place.)
Meanwhile, a temporary fix that would provide partial coverage for the coming months has been creeping forward at turtle speed - despite a million-dollar state earmark secured for the project in April.
The holdup apparently has been an unholy cycle of bureaucratic inertia and corporate hesitation - the kind that effective executive leadership could break.
But Gov. Spitzer's office has essentially telegraphed its ambivalence about the project. After all, it argues, lots of Upstate highways have limited cell service. So what's the big deal if folks are left stranded and incommunicado on this one stretch?
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
—yep—I guess they did have bottled water, though-—or something like that—
Tell me about it. The Adirondack region in question here is just to the west of good ol' Green Mountain country, Vermont .. where cell phone access is nil to say the least. A few years ago I went on a ski trip to Stowe, staying in a hotel right within the town center, and upon making a cell call within the town got terrible reception. Had to make the call on a pay phone instead, my cellular was useless in Stowe!
Agreed; when I lived in Colorado, I always made sure my trunk was full of whatever may be necessary, from wool blankets, to water, to extra clothes, and even dried food. Never know there when it'll snow (been caught in a snow storm, believe it or not at the beginning of September while on Vail Pass driving toward Denver).
Exactly. If I were to put the words Canada, rural highway, winter, drive, and me, together, I would think to be prepared. The reason I wrote "ambivalent" is not because I am against putting up cell phone towers here. I just got a sense that people are using cell phones as a substitute for using common sense.
For a set of particular cases, yes, cell phones can be helpful. But also, they can be completely useless. If the storm is strong enough, being able to call out isn't all that helpful, because nobody can get to where they are for an extended period anyway. If they can call out, then they can probably also make it to the roadway and flag someone passing by as well.
Your post made me think of another solution. First, though, why did they allow the most scenic highway in America to become a major international thoroughfare? Once that happens, cell phone towers are really just a small aspect of the problem.
Solution: If it is a 4-lane highway, take out 2 lanes. If it’s a two-lane highway, take out one lane on every bridge, making them one-way, with a stoplight for control. For an extra measure, tear up a couple miles of pavement and make it a gravel surface.
Voila, no more major thoroughfare. Traffic will go somewhere else or cease. Hey, let’s start fighting global warming in Upstate New York. Global Warming IS the real problem, right? As good little United Nations subjects, we WANT more people to freeze to death on empty scenic highways, don’t we?
I’m with 43north, in #8, Moonlit. “sometimes you need to take responsibility for your own safety and not depend on the gubbmint.” Out in these sticks, cellphone-dependent tourists sometimes remind me of the perfectly-healthy Homer Simpson in the nursing home demanding to be fed, changed, and turned.
Well said. The individual is at fault here, NOT the gubbmint.
As a side note, there is a cell tower on the northern shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene, highlighted against the sky, that has been made in the shape of a tree to conceal its true identity. Problem is, it is about three times the height of the surrounding trees.
As another side note (though certainly connected to the above), the only verbiage I would ever consider for a bumper sticker is "I hate sh*theads." It seems to cover all eventualities.
I don’t get it. Cell coverage is a service, not a right.
Snappily catches the spirit of the season, doesn't it?
Ah, Yes, “Day One, Everything Changes!”
I believe that Eliot is 10 times more corrupt than Geo. Elmer. Elmer was just lazy and dumb. He took cronyism to the hilt, only to be outdone by the General Attorney. I can tell stories, suffice it to say that the important posts in Gumment in Gnu Yak are being filled by loyal lawyers, with little or no experience in administration, and even less in people skills.
The only saving grace, my Dog could beat Spitz-up in ‘10!
I live in Vermont, and it gets cold here.
We live in a cell free area, and can’t use a cell phone until we drive about five miles toward Montpelier. I don’t carry a cell phone anyway, I gave mine to one of my kids in college.
I make it a rule never to go out in my car without enough warm clothes and boots to survive a hike, if necessary. I should think that was also an obvious rule for upstate New York. You don’t have to wear all the stuff while you drive, but have it in the car.
As far as myself goes, everytime I drive into that region for a ski trip, I *always* have emergency provisions in my vehicle, including a cell-phone, thank you ... but if I get into a situation where only a cell will help (such as being injured or any other incident where help is needed), then I'll use it.
This has nothing to do with being a government suckling, this has everything to do with having the tools available for the situation at hand, which might include cell service within the region of emergency. What the complaint in the original post says, is that NY State is still dragging their feet on the cell towers because the Greenies that they are beholden to won't allow a spoilage of the scenic view.
Not to mention that the easier/safer you make it for people to invade an area, the more they will invade it.
This eventually results in major changes to that area (for the most part, for the worse).
And you should carry survival supplies even if there's cell phone service where you're going.
Because if your rinky-dink cell phone breaks (say you have an accident that wrecks your car and cellphone, or say the cellphone POS just decides to break on its own) you'll wish you did.
Man, thats one ugly assed tree ! /lol
Does service such as On Star work in this area?
LOL.
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