BY ZACK WINESTINE | The fight to stop the three-story-tall LinkNYC 5G towers that a private company wants to build in the West Village is back in full swing. These unnecessary towers pose a significant threat to the historic districts in the West Village. Act now, and we can stop them.
At least six of these huge structures are planned for a small area of the West Village. All of them would be within historic districts or immediately adjacent to historic districts or individual landmarks. Several of the towers will contain large, illuminated advertising displays.
These futuristic metallic towers will clash with the architecture of the surrounding historic districts. Additionally, there will be cumulative impacts. A resident or visitor walking through this area will encounter multiple huge towers, each a jarring reminder of hyper-modernity that will adversely effect their experience of the historic districts.
Furthermore, there is simply no need for these towers. A stated purpose of the LinkNYC 5G program is to help “bridge the digital divide” and provide broadband access to marginalized and underserved communities. But far from being digitally disadvantaged, the West Village already has multiple options for affordable broadband access. In addition, existing cell service in the area is excellent.
Last spring, the Federal Communications Commission ordered “Section 106” reviews of the roughly 2,000 5G towers that the company, Boldyn Networks, wants to construct across New York City. The purpose of the reviews is to evaluate the towers’ impacts on neighboring historic districts and landmarks. Because the review process was so chaotic, the F.C.C. asked during the summer that it be halted, reorganized and restarted. That restart has now occurred.
In the West Village, reviews are currently underway for towers planned at 100 Horatio St. (at the corner of Washington Street), 100 Jane St. (actually on the corner of W. 12th and Washington Streets) and 771 Greenwich St. (at the corner of Bethune Street). The New York State Historic Preservation Office, the agency conducting the reviews, has already asked that a tower proposed for 445 West St., immediately adjacent to Westbeth Artists Housing, be moved. 5G towers are also planned in the vicinity of 807 Greenwich St. (corner of Jane Street) and 100 Gansevoort St. (corner of West Street), but these applications have not yet been submitted.
Our local elected officials have just sent a joint letter asking that the 5G towers not be located in or adjoining historic districts or individual landmarks. Local and citywide preservation organizations have all submitted comments to the reviews describing the adverse effects that these towers would have on our historic districts and landmarks.
The public can participate, as well. If you are concerned about these towers, now is the time to send your comments! Note that you have to submit a separate comment for each tower. The deadline for comments on 771 Greenwich St. has passed, but you can submit comments about 100 Horatio St. until Jan. 4. Village Preservation has suggestions for comments, along with an optional form you can use, if you wish: www.villagepreservation.org/oppose-a-5g-tower-at-100-horatio-street.
You can submit comments about the proposed 100 Jane St. 5G tower until Jan. 15; go to Village Preservation’s comment page here:
https://p2a.co/nlynl7q.
http://enews.nydailynews.com/q/1x4tBJ9R-6W0YDZAY4cofOhMtX7IdWMVOfaPZcOJYWlzZGl2ZXJAZ21haWwuY29tw4gYC2mDM0-d4SL3P0jkjBYFfWYvpg
How about getting the damn bikes & scooters off our streets?…… Maybe they will ride into the towers and stop blaming all the cars.
If these eyesores are truly necessary, or part of an unstoppable corporate push underwritten by political donations to the mayor and others, then surely some greedy landlords can be found who will lease rooftop space for these erections.
Have names of companies wanting to build the towers been made public?
Oh Steven, shut the f— up. WiFi is fine in the Village, per multiple friends. These horrible towers are simply a venue for money-making advertising for an individual corporation, and an affront to everything Downtown.
The Towers offer FREE 5G internet…it’s great for those less fortunate in life. Maybe try to convince the company to make a less visible tower rather stop it completely. Too many richie riches in the neighborhood?
Your snide, gratuitous comment aside, it is well documented that the West Village Historic District is far from an Internet desert and does not need these grotesque towers nor the unsightly advertising panels that are the real money driver of this assault on our neighborhoods.
Bingo. It’s all about the money.