Can you hear me now? New Verizon cell tower fixes dead zone in South Utica, New Hartford

After residents and business owners were stuck for years with a dead zone in South Utica and New Hartford, Verizon is finally bringing cell service to Oneida Street, the Ridgewood neighborhood, and the village of New Hartford.Sen. Chuck Schumer was one of the many elected officials who demanded Verizon to fix the dead zone and personally visited Oneida County, advocating for South Utica and New Hartford residents and small business owners, who were at their wit’s end after dealing with Verizon’s cellular dead zone, and called on the company to fix the issue immediately.Verizon has now started the process of building a cell tower in the area, Schumer announced Thursday.Shortly after Schumer’s calls to action, Verizon representatives engaged with the city of Utica, the village of New Hartford, and Schumer’s staff to work on solving the issue.The village of New Hartford’s board approved Verizon’s application to construct a new tower which will mitigate coverage issues for South Uticans, r...