Super-wife and I visit Sleepy Hollow State Park in mid-Michigan on a late August Sunday
Our neighborhood leader talks about T-Mobile's decision to not build Lansing (MI) cell tower

Southwest Lansing (MI) moms take on T-Mobile cell tower plans and win for a second time

For the past several weeks, I tried to condition myself to having a 125-foot monopole cell tower as a neighbor just down the block.  While our neighbors were asking T-Mobile to work with them to make the tower less visible, the company kept trying to bully its way into this residential areas in southwest Lansing.

After the city council voted down T-Mobile's request for a special use permit to build the tower, the company sued in federal court to get its way.

Today, T-Mobile announced that it was not going to build the tower. 

It was a major victory for the Averill Woods neighborhood on the southwest side of Michigan's State Capital City.  Our area is a neatly-kept middle-class, diverse area where the livability quotient is very high.

How did the neighborhood keep T-Mobile from building a tall cell tower that would have dramatically shifted the residential flavor of the area?  Here's what I see that made a difference:

  • A small group of young moms who worked diligently to research, make contacts and bird dog the tower proposal from first proposal to today's announcement.  They include neighborhood leader Melissa Quon-Huber, City Council Member A'Lynne Robinson who represents our ward and Ann Kostin McGill.
  • Their energies and their desire to maintain the residential character of the neighborhood fueled a synergy that kept the issue in front of city officials and other decision-makers.
  • Neighbors who were willing to get involved and who were willing to present rational arguments before the city council and its various committees.
  • A functional city government that's led by a city council that listens to motivated constituents; a mayor who lent the cachet and support of his office to the neighborhood.
  • Use of web 2.0 and social media, a blog and special Facebook page and a Yahoo Group, to recruit and inform.
I feel better tonight about our city government and about our city.  It does work, but it's not always pretty and it's usually frustrating.


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