Mystery Surrounds Metal Towers Popping Up In Tunnels & Bridges « CBS New York
Author: http://www.facebook.com/CBSNewYork
Description: Even people on the MTA board in charge of the $100 million towers can’t say why they’re being used or what’s in them.
Keywords: vibNews

# Mystery Surrounds Metal Towers Popping Up In Tunnels & Bridges

September 27, 2017 6:28 PM
Filed Under: Dave Carlin, Joe Lhota, MTA

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Mysterious metal towers are popping up at local tunnels, and soon they’ll start appearing at bridges, too.

But even people on the MTA board in charge of the towers can’t say why they’re being used or what’s in them, CBS2’s Dave Carlin reports.

Jose Lugo said the tall metal towers quickly appeared up after the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel tolls booths came down.

“We don’t really know what’s the purpose of this,” he told Carlin.

It’s a $100 million MTA project shrouded in secrecy, with 18 of them for tunnels and bridges. So what are they exactly?

The MTA’s man in charge of the bridges and tunnels, Cedrick Fulton, dodged Carlin’s questions Wednesday.

“I said no comment,” he said.

Some MTA board members, including New York City Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, say they know too little about the towers – even with half the money already spent and some of the towers already up.

“A lot of the board members felt they didn’t have all the details they would have wanted, myself included,” she said.

Residents suspect there is much more going on in the towers than meets the eye and wonder if they’ll ever really know what’s going on inside of them.

“I’m going to guess that it’s not just a decoration,” Alyssa Renkas, of the Upper West Side, said.

“It’s a bit mind-boggling that the MTA is approving $100 million for what appears to us to be big, decorative pylons,” says John Kaehny, the leader of the watchdog group Reinvent Albany. “What we’re asking for is transparency from the MTA.”

CBS2 demanded answers from MTA Chairman Joe Lhota.

Carlin: “Some of your own board members say they don’t know the specifics.”

Lhota: “The base of these new pieces that are going up include whatever fiber optics are necessary for those Homeland Security items.”

In other words, anti-terror technology. Could that one day include facial recognition? We don’t know and Lhota won’t say.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that,” he told Carlin.

So as more of these expensive towers rise, the mystery is tucked away inside them.

Lhota said all necessary Homeland Security technology remains in place at all crossings, even the ones that don’t have the new towers yet.

Comments

#### One Comment

1. Brian Sandridge says:
   September 28, 2017 at 1:41 pm

   What goes up can come down. What did the Sons of Liberty do to the statues of King George III?

   Reply | Report comment |
2. Jimmy Kilpatrick says:
   September 28, 2017 at 1:06 pm

   Open Records Request. The rats have no where to hide the public needs to know ASAP. It could be the Russians are completely involved in this security venture,

   Reply | Report comment
3. CG Rain says:
   September 28, 2017 at 12:23 pm

   Those look like speakers on the top, maybe some kind of HF thing to disable people nearby, seen it used in riot control, but why by bridges? To keep people out or from leaving? Ideas run rampant when they don’t give the public any info about these things. Jerks. And paid for by the people, too!

   Reply | Report comment
4. Richard Frey says:
   September 28, 2017 at 12:22 pm

   Radar waves criss crossing Brooklyn which will deflower all Brooklynites to keep them from reproducing more “protesters”……..

   Reply | Report comment
5. Sam Wise says:
   September 28, 2017 at 12:03 pm

   Its just more of the police state paid for by you, the ignorant taxpayer.
   Stop paying the crooks.

   1. “Exempt income” and “Income that is not” … are ALREADY codified in U.S. tax regulations.
   2. According to regulations, most Americans DON’T owe any income tax.

   Look it up…
   “exempt income means”
   “income that is not considered tax exempt”
   ecfr g ov

   Computer scientist data mines tax code for deductions and excluded income, finds fraud.
   whatistaxed c om

   Reply | Report comment
6. VARNBULER (@VARNBULER) says:
   September 28, 2017 at 11:51 am

   Back Scatter radar to see what is in your pants.

   Reply | Report comment
7. John Jones says:
   September 28, 2017 at 11:48 am

   They’re positioned at bridges and tunnels for a reason, which is that EVERYBODY has to use traverse them sooner or later. This is about facial recognition and logging at the very least, and undoubtedly a lot more.

   Reply | Report comment
8. Jack Rail (@SaguaroJack) says:
   September 28, 2017 at 11:38 am

   Deep State has to keep an eye on you lest you scribble graffiti or threaten to have some fun.

   Reply | Report comment
9. Charles Aronowitz says:
   September 28, 2017 at 11:38 am

   Obviously, the government will be tracking the passage of vehicles.

   Reply | Report comment
10. Doug Jones says:
    September 28, 2017 at 11:34 am

    How Complacent and illiterate have you all become? Damn it! You Neanderthals pay taxes for this! Don’t ask the question! Goddamn it! Demand an answer and follow through. Your government has been training you, your children and their minds for a long time. Wise up!

    Reply | Report comment
    1. Jack Rail (@SaguaroJack) says:
       September 28, 2017 at 11:41 am

       We need your leadership, O Wise One! Show us what to do! Tell us how to do it! You are smarter than we are, Sagacious One! Lead us out of the darkness into the light!

       Reply | Report comment
11. Rick Fischer says:
    September 28, 2017 at 11:03 am

    Read any Sci-Fi dystopia and you can see it forming before your eyes. In the name of security, the government will spy on us all. But not to worry; no one in government has ever used their power for other than honorable purposes.

    “We had to burn the village down in order to save it.”

    Reply | Report comment
12. Don McCoy says:
    September 28, 2017 at 10:50 am

    These towers in NYC? More likely anti-Conservative measures than anit-terror measures!

    Reply | Report comment
13. Jason Prate says:
    September 28, 2017 at 10:36 am

    How dare people who live in communities ask what the government is doing with THEIR money and about things they are building in THEIR community. Why the hell do you think citizens should be informed about what their government is doing, especially if its to them? Do they think they should have any say in this? Silly citizens, its not like you live in a democratic republic where those making decisions should be held accountable for their actions. We know anyone with any power is never really held accountable (other than the laughable ‘well you can vote them out’)

    Reply | Report comment
14. Bart Drennon says:
    September 28, 2017 at 10:30 am

    Whatever it is, if it has a capability of being used illegally against innocent Americans, IT WILL BE.

    Reply | Report comment
15. Bill Loyal says:
    September 28, 2017 at 9:23 am

    Typical NYC secrecy and creepiness. More snooping and spying by the police state of New Jerk.

    Reply | Report comment
16. Toxic Peppercorns (@ToxicBrokentap) says:
    September 28, 2017 at 8:29 am

    It’s the Russians. I’m sure of it. But seriously, c’mon folks. It’s some kind of surveillance tool. Say something bad about DeBlasio, and *POOF* you’ll be vaporized for having racist thoughts.

    Reply | Report comment
17. Daniel Staggers says:
    September 28, 2017 at 8:27 am

    Apparently, despite bugging our President, the NSA seems to be getting everything they want. Surprised?

    Reply | Report comment
18. Frank Marino says:
    September 28, 2017 at 8:10 am

    So they should make public what this anti-terror technology public and how it works so that the terrorists can figure out how to get around it and kill us? But at least the conspiracy theorists would then be able to sleep at night knowing that it was not Big Brother listening to their cell phone calls. The citizenry of this country has become so stupid. Let the government do its job. You do not need to know everything.

    Reply | Report comment
19. Jamie Frederick (@spidey2k) says:
    September 28, 2017 at 7:45 am

    They are probably hyper sensitive radiation sniffers, infrared scanners and cell phone decoders. That would be my guess.

    Reply | Report comment
20. Ray Minawaanigwad says:
    September 28, 2017 at 6:33 am

    Yet they are already built……. Now you question what they are for…..I say we topple THESE “statues” but idiots only want to mess with our history not our safety.

    Reply | Report comment
21. Andrew Taylor says:
    September 28, 2017 at 1:26 am

    This is not rocket science folks. They are likely new and improved Radiation Detectors. It was a fairly open secret that following 9/11 there are or were several layers of radiation and chemical weapon detectors at the entrance points to Manhattan to screen for vehicles carrying radioactive cargo. Particularly seeking any signs of a weaponized cargo, be it a true nuclear bomb or the feared crude dirty bombs. A moments thought would tell you those systems were likely largely located at the toll plaza’s. As they change or remove the toll plaza’s they are putting in new improved threat detectors. And of course they will all play dumb about it.

    Reply | Report comment
    1. thedan1337 says:
       September 28, 2017 at 5:31 am

       This is not rocket science, and you’re not even sure what they’re for.

       Reply | Report comment
22. Love and War (@train0fthoughts) says:
    September 28, 2017 at 1:15 am

    Resistance is futile.

    Reply | Report comment
23. Steve Kasian (@SteveKasian) says:
    September 28, 2017 at 12:54 am

    Mark my words: They are related to developing & setting up a driverless/transportation system.

    Reply | Report comment
24. Joe Daugherty says:
    September 28, 2017 at 12:30 am

    666 chip readers

    Reply | Report comment
25. Mike Hayes says:
    September 28, 2017 at 12:07 am

    Nuke or Chem sensors?

    Reply | Report comment
    1. Ken Dicus says:
       September 28, 2017 at 12:37 am

       That would be my guess. NBC detectors.

       Reply | Report comment
26. Tim B. Martin says:
    September 28, 2017 at 12:05 am

    Alternative communication system in case of an EMP attac?

    Reply | Report comment
27. galleries66 says:
    September 27, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    Multi-dimensional mass surveillance is here. Your daily travel patterns id you uniquely just like your face. Add to that your phone and any chip devices… and..

    Reply | Report comment
28. Joe Burney says:
    September 27, 2017 at 11:37 pm

    Come on guys. There are only a handful of things they could be doing, either transmitting or collecting information. Transmitting cellular information is possible, but unlikely. Too short by far. Collecting information would be limited to (1) taking pictures–facial recognition or license plate or both; (2) Detecting radio–your wheels issue relatively unique radio signals detectable at 100 feet or so as part of your tire pressure system. Your car may have some sort of other transponder like unique signal but I doubt it very much. But yah, wheels definitely. Or (3) Nuclear decay particle detection–looking for dirty bomb material. And that is pretty much it. If I was betting on one of these three, it would guess (1) and then weakly (3). The city wants to know who enters it, and where they go. Eh. It’s their business to do that, and if they can actually pull it off, more power to them. If it is (3), well then, if the detectors actually work, more power to them, but I can’t imagine any nuclear material that can’t be shielded down to background rates, so it is a crap shoot to try to detect, say, a couple of kilos of well shielded nasty material. On the other hand, you have to be pretty skilled not to be sloppy with the stuff as has been shown hundreds if not thousands of times …

    Reply | Report comment
29. pershing@usa.com (@I_M_AlwaysRight) says:
    September 27, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    Big brother is watching.

    Reply | Report comment
30. David Alster says:
    September 27, 2017 at 11:26 pm

    Cameras to detect violators of government speak.

    Reply | Report comment
31. Glenn Thomas says:
    September 27, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    They found “Charlie” and they are keeping him in one of those towers.

    Reply | Report comment
32. Mike Knox says:
    September 27, 2017 at 11:04 pm

    One thing’s for sure. What ever they say they are for, you can bet that they will have multiple applications. It all part of their ‘internet of things’.

    Reply | Report comment
33. Alfred Umberto says:
    September 27, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    looks like the toll gates used on the toll highways

    Reply | Report comment
34. Tony Welker says:
    September 27, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    Can you say Jason Bourne?

    Reply | Report comment
35. ShockTheVote (@shockvote) says:
    September 27, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    Wasted Money. It Doesn’t matter what technology is in them, DHS/TSA have not stopped one single terrorist since the Make-Work-For-Lifelong-Democrat-Voters Bureaucracies were created.

    Reply | Report comment
36. Chris Richards says:
    September 27, 2017 at 10:23 pm

    yeah its either stingray, ALPR, cameras, or combination of all of that

    Reply | Report comment
37. Jhon Pat Shoemaker says:
    September 27, 2017 at 10:19 pm

    screw the feds… do not comply… feed disinfo on a massive scale…

    Reply | Report comment
38. UncleJoe (@RussianBoogyMan) says:
    September 27, 2017 at 10:15 pm

    I betcha they are stingrays (or similar technology) – which make your cell phone thinks they are connecting to a legitimate cell tower and then the stingray monitors all your incoming and outgoing communications. They had them secretively in Seattle until the city was busted for using the technology.

    Reply | Report comment

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