The Ubiquitous Cell

One of the most fascinating news stories of the past week concerned an association of outraged homeowners in Beverly Hills that is fighting the construction of a cell tower in its neighborhood. It's got to be the ultimate in conflicted interests, they want their convenience, but God forbid anything convenient should despoil their environs. Yeah, like "put the ugly stuff in somebody else's backyard." These people should get out more and see the rest of the world. I'm always amused by the cell tower alongside the 405 freeway in L.A.'s Sepulveda Pass. Some genius at Caltrans had it painted to resemble a palm tree. Well, not resemble exactly, more like roughly approximate badly camouflaged cargo pants. I'm surprised some overly paid curator hasn't tried to call it art, haul it up the hill, and put it in the Getty plaza alongside the huge thing that looks like melting construction scaffolding.