One of our councilman over here in East Nashville is working on passing an ordinance that will help clean-up Gallatin Rd. I’m all for the concept of making it look nicer. Though i am a little libertarian to love the idea of limiting the types of businesses that can be along the road (with no schools, etc anywhere near by), i personally don’t love them so i guess i can live with it. Besides limiting the types of businesses that can be along the road, they also want to restrict the placement of parking lots (they can only be at the rear of the property now, with vehicle access from side roads, etc). That one makes less sense to me…but ok, whatever. Lastly, they want to restrict signs. They can only be attached to buildings or low-lying on the ground – small, unobtrusive, etc. Fine. I’m all for a little height restriction, but overall sign clutter doesn’t really seem to bad.
Here’s the deal people. You want to make Gallatin Rd look nicer (and the rest of Nashville while you’re at it)…
Get rid of the above-ground power lines.
They are ugly, messy, way more ‘cluttered’ looking than any signs. Not to mention they make for a trashy power system. Above-ground power lines are full of electrical noise and are more prone to outages than lines that are all above ground. Not to mention the health problems associated with above-ground power. Bury them like any modern city. I’ll have less wear-and-tear on my electronics, have to buy fewer power filtering adapters, and not have to put a UPS on everything i own because the power goes out when it gets windy outside. Most of all, it will just plain look nicer.
The Australians are burying their lines. There are studies and papers being written on the advantages all the time. Besides the fact that nobody wants above-ground power.
Which do you think looks better? Lower signs, or no power lines?
But oh yeah – here’s the trick. One cost the city money, the other cost private business owners money. Guess which one we’re gonna get…
