To the editor:
My heart is breaking about the Verizon Wireless cell tower being constructed at the end of my street.
Like all my Alma Street neighbors, I was shocked to learn that the reason for the construction vehicles coming up here was to prepare for a cell tower.
It has been a hopeless, helpless feeling. We built this house with our own two hands and spent decades adding, investing in it and improving it. We bought the empty lot between us and our neighbor so it couldn’t be developed and would preserve the nature and open space around us. We love it here. We felt safe here. That all changed in March when truck after truck came up the street and cut down trees.
Neighbors were told in the time it would take to organize, the tower would be up and there would be nothing we could do. It is a gut-wrenching feeling. I feel like everything my husband and I had worked so hard for is being taken away. We have retired here. We spend all of our time outdoors doing our own farming. We want our home to be a place for family reunions and a spot for our kids and grandkids to visit and enjoy the beauty of the Berkshires, not see a cell tower.
We want to feel safe here and not worry about a tower catching on fire, collapsing, not being maintained, potentially going up another 50 feet and having additional antennas built. We don’t want to worry about our health or safety because we live near it. People who are living next to towers have reported a variety of symptoms. None of us want a tower in our beautiful family neighborhood, nor do we believe this is an appropriate location for one.
We have now spent the money saved for our retirement on trying to stop the tower. We want to enjoy our time here, and I’m afraid if the tower is allowed to go up, I will live in concern and fear every day for my health and the health of all those here.
Judy Herzig,
Pittsfield
Published in the Berkshire Eagle
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/letter-cell-tower-plan-is-heartbreaking,611019