It took an act of Congress, quite literally, to clear the way for construction of a digital TV tower atop Lookout Mountain in Jefferson County. First proposed seven years ago, the tower has been the subject of heated dispute ever since.
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, fearing time was running short for the tower, sponsored a bill last week that is meant to overcome the opposition from some citizens and the city of Golden. The city has tried to do everything to stop the tower including, unbelievably, condemning the property – even though it’s not in city limits. Allard added his bill, co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, to a bundle of non-controversial bills approved last week in the waning hours of the 109th Congress.
The bill, if signed by President Bush, will end Denver’s unenviable status as the only top-25 U.S. TV market where free high-definition TV is still generally unavailable.
We would rather this had been settled by local government leaders rather than having Congress bigfoot the city of Golden and Jefferson County. However, after seven years of rezoning hearings and court battles, a local resolution appeared unlikely. If the new tower isn’t up and running by a federal deadline of Feb. 17, 2009, more than 600,000 Denver area residents who rely on free TV could lose such service.
The battle began when four Denver commercial television stations, KCNC-Channel 4, KMGH-Channel 7, KUSA-Channel 9 and KTVD-Channel 20, announced their intent to consolidate their existing antennas on Lookout Mountain into a single 730-foot tower ahead of the 2009 deadline for switching to high-definition TV.
Towers were first erected on Lookout Mountain 50 years ago at the dawn of the television age because it was the best location for reaching the most viewers, supporters say. It remains that today.
Opponents tried to persuade Golden to buy the site for $1.75 million to tear down the existing towers and preserve the area as open space. And then there was Golden’s ludicrous idea to condemn the property – even though it lies outside city boundaries.
We think the public interest in providing the digital TV signals to Denver-area viewers outweighs the negatives of the tower. Intractable opponents must ask themselves why it took an act of Congress to advance the project.
