Boston Globe article: "Trying to quantify the NIMBY factor"

[mem_winterhill]

I don't have a Globe subscription, so I used my Somerville Library card access to the ProQuest database to read the story for free. I can't check on the story link, but if you have a subscription you can go here:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/08/30/researchers-examine-nimby-factor/uVws4Lrm6Sa2qa6UdyHIiO/story.html

Anyway, this article talks about the objections faced to development, that are kind of interesting. There was a study done that showed a lack of diversity of voices, and some common demographics, that we need to probably consider as we are talking about local development issues. We need to be sure the issues are tangible for people across a broad spectrum.

They, broadly speaking, are the people who show up to comment at planning and zoning meetings across Eastern Massachusetts, according to a new paper by three Boston University professors. The researchers combed three years worth of meeting minutes from 97 cities and towns in the region, and found nearly two-thirds of residents who stood up to speak about proposed housing developments did so to oppose them, while just 14 percent spoke in support.

[snip]

There are lots of reasons for the narrow range of meeting commenters, Einstein said, from the busy schedules of younger families and people with inflexible work hours, to the less-rooted life of renters. There's also the fact someone living next door to a proposed construction site is keenly aware of how it might affect them, whereas the notion of a few more housing units is more abstract to a community's general population.

Here's is the journalist's tweet to the story, in case that works better: https://twitter.com/bytimlogan/status/1035537429678239744

Comments

[jducoeur]

This is a topic very near to me -- I live smack in the middle of the gigantic construction zone that is Murdock St. While I haven't formally calculated it, I believe that our population is at least doubling, maybe tripling over five years. I have 20+ condos being built right across the street from me, and that's only one of several active development projects on a one-block street. It's very... educational. (And noisy.)

I've spent a good deal of the past couple of years in development meetings. Some thoughts:

In *principle*, I am in favor of more development. Given the immense demand for housing in Somerville, and the way prices are skyrocketing, there are lots of good arguments why we should be building.

That said, being right at ground zero of that development? That's a real pain in the ass.

We have construction machinery all around us, all day, often blocking the road for hours and all-too-often tearing it up and putting it together badly. (This can have direct quality-of-life impact: we recently wound up losing use of our house for several days until a problem could get fixed.)

The developers are *not*, for the most part, doing this out of any sort of high-mindedness or civic spirit: they're businessmen, out to make the biggest profit they can. This means that those of us attending the meetings *have* to act as the opposition, because the developers are usually trying to get away with more than they should. Parking, in particular, is a perennial problem: nearly every development has tried to weasel out of providing sufficient parking for the units that they are building, on a street that is already badly over-crowded in terms of on-street.

So yeah -- the quoted section is absolutely correct. Principle and practice are very much at odds here, and even those of us who approve of the idea of development are put in the wearying position of having to be the "bad guys", calling the developers out, demanding that they don't cause lasting damage, and suffering through the resulting headaches. I work very hard *not* to be a NIMBY, but I can't usually bring myself to comment more favorably than, "I guess this version of the plan isn't *horrible*" -- because that usually comes after several iterations that were...