Humans created new trees. Cellular trees. Why?
As demand for phone calls that never drop and videos that stream from anywhere grows, more cellular transmission sites are needed. Many municipalities prefer cell towers to be camouflaged, and companies are doing it by constructing a new kind of tree, one that generates internet service instead of oxygen. These stealth monopole cellular towers are reproducing at a fast rate, but the question is: Why? We take a journey through Southern California to find out.
Mark E. Potts is the senior editor for video at the Los Angeles Times. A native of Enid, Okla., Potts graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. He has created and edited video for DreamWorks, YouTube, Microsoft, Sony and BET.
Daniel Miller is an enterprise reporter for the Los Angeles Times, working on investigations and features. An L.A. native and UCLA graduate, he joined the staff in 2013.
As senior editor of investigations, Jack Leonard oversaw the work of a team of investigative reporters. As a reporter, he was part of the team that exposed fraud and abuse in California’s conservatorship system, a series that won several national awards. He went on to investigate how early releases from L.A.’s jail system perverts justice and fosters more crime on the street. Later, he worked on a sweeping expose of abuse and corruption in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
