A pair of problems seem as different as their solutions in huggable Fayetteville, but they’re not, really. It’s all about power, after all.
The scary power play is how the local electric company, Southwestern Energy Power Co. (called Swepco everywhere but the phone book when you need to report an outage, where it’s AEP, or maybe A E P) wants to install larger than usual poles downtown, to handle higher demand. Some city officials and certainly residents ask, why not bury the lines, for which the answer is, that costs more.
That discussion is proceeding: View Not Likely to Halt Power-line Case.
Meanwhile, a company wants to erect a 150-tower for cell-phone communications, in the city’s Walker Park, Smith Radio Pines for Tower Approval. The company states it will make the steel tower look like a tree, a very tall tree, which it calls a “monopine.” Let’s visualize an artificial, six-foot Christmas tree, perhaps without the fake-snow “flocking,” and enlarge the image 25 times.
The fake tree in a popular public park does meet one standard of approval, the local editorial page: A Tower to Pine For.
Fayetteville is a city that takes its greenery seriously; the rest of Northwest Arkansas just looks out for the green. Our Fayetteville is earthy. Maybe if we spruce up Swepco’s power poles to look like spruces, or oaks, we will have a workable solution at an affordable cost.
It’s spring, time to plant small plants and wait for them to grow. Swepco erecting leafy utility lines is like splurging at the nursery instead of buying tiny saplings in 1-gallon pots. Sticking plastic branches and polyester leaves on all towers and utility mounts will put Fayetteville higher on the grid. -30-
