Ted Bleecker, the owner of Bleecker Street Studios at 406 E. Main St. in Carrboro is upset because the town wants to build one of the traffic signals in front of his property.
The other two signals will be located near the Kentucky Fried Chicken and the Performance Bike Shop.
"I've put a lot of effort forth, so I don't want this great, big ugly pole there," Bleecker said. "I don't like poles."
Bleecker said he wants town officials and the N.C. Department of Transportation to consider building the pole directly across the street from his building, an art studio.
"I find it aesthetically very disturbing," he said. "It's a 35-foot pole when my building's only 28 feet."
Carrboro Town Manager Bob Morgan said the town is replacing the traffic signal because business owners expressed concern about the safety of pedestrians crossing the street in a busy downtown area. "The other alternative is to cut down our oak tree," he said.
The oak tree Morgan refers to is located across the street from Bleecker's property and is about a foot in diameter and 25 feet tall. Bleecker said the tree is a white oak tree under power lines that the town has to trim to keep the tree from getting too tall. "They're destroying the whole essence of the tree," he said.
Bleecker suggested the town cut down the tree and landscape the area or customize a more expensive pole that could go around the tree. "You can build a pole that's going to do anything," he said.
At the Carrboro Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night, Bleecker asked for compensation if the traffic light is built on his property.
