# NIMBY fucking morons. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765 "2019-02-01T03:56:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BeenJammin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beenjammin/32/448_2.png) [@BeenJammin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeenJammin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/21 "2019-02-01T18:51:46Z")
The new cell tower they recently installed over by the interstate here looks like a windmill. Pretty cool. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/22 "2019-02-01T20:09:21Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Oh yeah, [camouflaging cell towers as trees](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/take-a-look-at-americas-least-convincing-cell-phone-tower-trees) is completely convincing, every time. Yes, some of them are dumb-looking (especially the older designs), but I will point out that your linked article is about “America’s Least Convincing Cell Phone Tower Trees”. 😃 The tree designs are often a poor choice due to height; by their nature, cell towers need to be taller than their surroundings–especially if those surroundings spend most of their time covered in moisture-bearing foliage. Conversely, if they’re in a flat, open area, the fake trees stand out just by being the only tall things around. The ideal camouflage would be custom construction that’s relevant to whatever’s nearby. Like a [bell tower](https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cell-phone-tower-disguised-a-church-bell-tower-1.jpg?w=800&h=525&zoom=2) at a church. Other obviously artificial, but not unaesthetic design options might be an [art installation](https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/hidden-cell-tower.jpg?w=300&h=450&zoom=2), or an [obelisk](https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3052/3392922256_163dd0d818_b.jpg). In the scenario **kambuckta** describes, it might actually be better to put it in _front_ of the strip mall, in the form of a big new sign structure for the shopping center (if the required height and other factors make that practical). However, none of this–especially good and/or custom designs–comes cheap. A bare-bones tower is likely to cost well over $100K, and even basic camouflage may more than double the cost. Maybe you could get [these folks](https://www.verdin.com/towers/) together with the cell company to make something really nice, but don’t expect someone else to be on the hook for the bill. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/23 "2019-02-01T20:28:35Z")
Aesthetically, I think the bare tower looks better than much of the camouflage. Of course, I am used to the kind of towers we have in the rural areas, a single thin spike with three or four antennae evenly spaced around it. Some of the ones I’ve seen in denser areas, with thirty or more antennae, would of course be much more of a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/24 "2019-02-01T20:33:49Z")
We’ve had water towers and telephone poles and radio transmitters and such going back forever, why now are cell towers considered such a blight? It doesn’t seem all that different from other things we might have plunked in the middle of a wilderness or a town. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/25 "2019-02-01T20:52:16Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Oh yeah, [camouflaging cell towers as trees](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/take-a-look-at-americas-least-convincing-cell-phone-tower-trees) is completely convincing, every time. I think the point isn’t to conceal it from a searching eye, but camouflage it just enough to not draw the eye to itself while you’re doing something else. Kind of like how Disney uses that particular green background color and a particular sky color to do the same; if the cell towers are far enough off the beaten path, they could do something similar with them as well (and probably do). The best would be to include them in existing architecture, like #5 on this list: [https://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/25-examples-of-cell-phone-tower-disguises/47927](https://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/25-examples-of-cell-phone-tower-disguises/47927) I literally drove by that church several times a week for 10 years to and from work and never realized that’s a cell tower. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/26 "2019-02-01T21:07:08Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > We’ve had water towers and telephone poles and radio transmitters and such going back forever, why now are cell towers considered such a blight? It doesn’t seem all that different from other things we might have plunked in the middle of a wilderness or a town. You may have seen what they have been doing with water towers lately. Not “towers” like the ones in the midwest, but the big vertical tanks around here. They are painting them up with treescapes, which, as noted by **bump** , is not to hide them so much as to get people to ignore them. A big grey cylinder stands out, but add some color to it and it looks like it belongs there. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/27 "2019-02-03T04:42:51Z")
In particular, apparently Disney uses a particular nondescript green and a particular nondescript light gray- apparently they both blend in fairly well with foliage and sky. So I’d imagine that if they really were interested in lazy camouflage of a cell tower, they could go sit in a car, figure out the height that the cell tower would have a foliage/sky break, and paint it that green up to that point, and gray above. That would both break up the linearity of the tower, and give it blending-in ability color-wise. That’s fairly good camo-wise actually. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/28 "2019-02-03T18:06:22Z")
Whining cowcockies, whining cowcockies, You’ll hear the whining cowcockies with me. And they’ll whine full strength from the dunnies at the cell phone tow’r. You’ll hear the whining cowcockies with me. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/29 "2019-02-03T19:15:57Z")
My favorite NIMBYs are the ones who rejected a potential site for a library because they didn’t want to live next to the library. I just can’t understand that. So the library that’s long overdue still hasn’t been built, and the new location is harder to get to and parking will be difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/30 "2019-02-03T19:17:14Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > My favorite NIMBYs are the ones who rejected a potential site for a library because they didn’t want to live next to the library. I just can’t understand that. So the library that’s long overdue still hasn’t been built, and the new location is harder to get to and parking will be difficult. What are they worried about, noise? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/31 "2019-02-03T19:40:13Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > My favorite NIMBYs are the ones who rejected a potential site for a library because they didn’t want to live next to the library. I just can’t understand that. So the library that’s long overdue still hasn’t been built, and the new location is harder to get to and parking will be difficult. There’s an industrial area that was created in the 1960s; there used to be a couple kilometers between it and the town, but the building bubble produced a bunch of rowhouses in that space. The first business in the industrial area is a gas station. Some of the people in the rowhouses brought suit requesting that the station move, as it bothered them. The judge dictated sentence in the usual legalese and then made sure that they understood “that means ‘they were there first, geniuses’”. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/32 "2019-02-03T22:45:03Z")
thats like an aa type of groupthat was around here for years that protested every gas/ mini mart that was built that sold beer and the like near an on/off ramp to the freeways because of drunk driving when the mall decided to put resturants in and around it that sold hard booze they paid for a study that went for 2 years and found out that most drunk drivers used normàl city or back roads because its easierto get caught on the freeways after that was brought up in the city mèetings a few times …the teetotalers gave up ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/33 "2019-02-04T02:41:08Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > She wanted my professional opinion about what kind of shielding she could buy to protect herself from the microwaves giving her trouble… > I tried to be respectful to her and not get personal in any way but she still briefly got angry and said I probably was gullible enough to believe that fluoride in drinking water isn’t harmful. Tell her Reynolds makes a great product to deflect such emissions. She has to take it out of the box and wrap it around her head half a dozen times patting down the top to make a good seal (shiny side out, of course!). You can tell her you do it yourself and it works like a charm. Most importantly, and this is essential, ask her for selfies to ensure she’s done it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/34 "2019-02-04T02:47:27Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > Tell her Reynolds makes a great product to deflect such emissions. She has to take it out of the box and wrap it around her head half a dozen times patting down the top to make a good seal (shiny side out, of course!). You can tell her you do it yourself and it works like a charm. Most importantly, and this is essential, ask her for selfies to ensure she’s done it correctly. Actually, she needs two layers. Shiny side out keeps out the mind control rays but allows thoughts to be read. Shiny side in for the skinside layer. If the shiny side out is the skinside layer, everything gets trapped between the layers and starts building up pressure that leads to a mental rupture. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/35 "2019-02-04T02:59:12Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Oh yeah, [camouflaging cell towers as trees](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/take-a-look-at-americas-least-convincing-cell-phone-tower-trees) is completely convincing, every time. Perhaps if they built a giant kangaroo instead… ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/36 "2019-02-04T02:59:37Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Actually, she needs two layers. Shiny side out keeps out the mind control rays but allows thoughts to be read. Shiny side in for the skinside layer. > If the shiny side out is the skinside layer, everything gets trapped between the layers and starts building up pressure that leads to a mental rupture. I think a factual answer is required, so please post in General Questions:D ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/37 "2019-02-04T04:37:08Z")
Grain silos in the arid west of my state have taken on a whole new incarnation in the last few years. [Speaking of art](http://siloarttrail.com/home/). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/38 "2019-02-04T05:40:24Z")
Honestly, it’s not the appearance, they think the “radiation” will be dangerous. San Francisco is the worst. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765/39 "2019-02-04T14:00:44Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > What are they worried about, noise? 😃 Probably traffic and parking overflow. Or homeless people, going in and out of a free, heated building with Internet access during daytime hours when the shelter is closed, damaging the visual aesthetics of the neighborhood. Maybe delinquents hanging around after school, even though the library is probably the last place they’d go. > [@eschereal](#): > > They are painting them up with treescapes, which, as noted by **bump** , is not to hide them so much as to get people to ignore them. A big grey cylinder stands out, but add some color to it and it looks like it belongs there. ISTM that has the opposite effect - it makes me say “What the hell were they thinking?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nimby-fucking-morons/828765.md?page=1)