The City Council is making a power grab to interpose itself in the approval process for new cellular telephone antennae. That’s understandable for the council members, who will now be able to milk new sources for both campaign contributions and fees for their outside law practices – both the telecommunications companies and their opponents. But it’s trouble for the many New Yorkers who for years have been interrupted, cut off, discombobulated, and annoyed by dead spots in cellular phone reception.

City Council involvement and the community board approval process envisioned in the legislation introduced yesterday will only make it more difficult to erect new antennae and harder to have a conversation without getting cut off midsentence.

This city has plenty of problems – high tax rates, roads in terrible condition, subways that break down in the rain. Instead of tackling those problems, council members Peter Vallone Jr., James Oddo, and Joseph Addabbo want to worry about imaginary health problems from cellular telephone antennae. Their punishment should be to have their telephone conversations cut off mid-sentence for the rest of their time in office.