Dear Editor,
Those of us who watch the nightly news on a regular basis and drive our roads may have been recently greeted with the pleasant news that cellular service in the Town of Colonie is finally improving. A huge heap of credit goes first and foremost to the leadership of our Supervisor Peter Crummey, who made the issue a top priority of his administration on day one.
Supervisor Crummey’s shepherding of a new town law streamlining the siting and placement of several small cell nodes in infamous “dead zones” like the area surrounding Route 9 in Latham and Loudonville has already paid several dividends. Ongoing improvements to cellular infrastructure will continue to correct a problem which has long plagued Colonie emergency services and residents alike. The Supervisor and our Town Board members deserve our thanks for not only tackling this issue, but coming up with real solutions to address it.
It’s been a long road to reach this point. In 2018, I was proud to help jumpstart a bipartisan initiative at the County level to study and address dead zones in Colonie, co-sponsored by my friend and former County Legislator Joseph O’Brien. Kudos go to Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple for listening to us and engaging with residents all across our Town to identify what would become known as the “Bermuda Triangle.” The most problematic coverage area was loosely bordered by Route 9, Old Niskayuna Road and Albany Shaker Road.
No matter how many issues came up in the County, or how many issues I wanted to talk about with constituents, cellular service has always been a top concern during my time in the Legislature. We spoke with residents, cell carriers and town and county officials nearly every day during our first efforts five years ago. In speaking with a company like Verizon, their top concern was often the outdated barriers in the Town codes. I want to give credit to Verizon, who understood this was an issue of public safety from the start, and worked methodically to deliver on the advancements we see today.
It wasn’t always an easy process. A lot of stakeholders took slings and arrows from their own neighbors, who did in fairness have concerns about the siting of some of the bigger cell towers. Zoning and Planning Board meetings with neighborhood audiences produced many understandable concerns. One of my guiding principles as an elected official – and should be the case for all elected officials and governments – is to always maintain a balance between local progress and residential quality of life. To me it was inconceivable that Colonie, the center of suburban Albany County, could continue as a cellular desert in our digital world. We needed the infrastructure to be expanded to include all areas of our town.
Everyone hates when they drop a call. For some residents, it’s frustrating to not be able to use their own phones in their own homes – and downright dangerous in emergencies. For others, like our police, firefighters and first responders, it could be the difference between life and death. We are all safer and afforded a better quality of life with improved cellular service.
Thank you once again to the Crummey administration and all our partners in government and industry who helped make this happen. We are looking forward in 2024 to fully erasing the “Bermuda Triangle” of no cell service. The best is yet to come!
Sincerely,
Paul Burgdorf
Albany County Legislator,
District 23