I first became acquainted with the acronym NIMBY (“Not In My Backyard”) 20 years ago when plans for a $5 billion megaproject in Brooklyn Atlantic Yards (now named Pacific Park) were first mentioned. Now, the term is synonymous with the housing crisis gripping America.
Atlantic Yards would turn Atlantic Avenue at the crossroads of Flatbush Avenue into a huge transit hub, with an arena (the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets), shopping, and more. People protesting the development were owners of pricey brownstones in the affluent Prospect Heights/Park Slope enclave, who feared the development would both destroy the neighborhood and possibly hurt their real estate prices. Many small businesses and apartments were demolished under eminent domain in the ensuing years.
Now, Brooklyn is almost unrecognizable, with dozens of expensive new condo developments and real estate prices soaring to astronomical heights, affecting the entire borough and forcing long-time residents out. If homeowners feared their real estate would not appreciate through development, they were wrong.
The Connotations of NIMBYism Have Changed Over The Years
Although the NIMBY movement was unsuccessful in blocking the Atlantic Yards development—and many people might argue that the city was already sliding headfirst into soaring gentrification 20 years ago—there’s no doubt that the term NIMBY has changed a lot since then. It now has negative connotations, with new affordable single-family homes being a casualty of NIMBYs, whose efforts have stalled development and, according to the New York Times, “increased racial segregation, deepened wealth inequality, and are robbing the next generation of the American dream.”
The acronym first entered the public arena in the early 1980s to describe neighbors who fought against apartment developments. NIMBY activists were seen as protectors of their neighborhoods and communities. With the price explosion across the…