You are Wrong because I Say So

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Tourism blow as hotel rejected, reads the headline in The West (28 Dec 2010). Short-sighted council swayed by NIMBY crowd, is the headline of Beatrice Thomas' opinion extra.

Damn those nimbies! How dare they try to protect their own back yards! If not for the nimbies, I could make a (larger) fortune...

• NIMBY: For those who don't know, NIMBY stands for, Not In My Back Yard. So a nimby is a person or group who reject a proposed development largely on the grounds that the development would destroy their own standard of living.
  

Now we have a new hotel rejected because the stupid nimbies are being stupid... according to Thomas.

From the developer's point of view it had come up with plans that, in many ways, ticked all the boxes for what local and State governments want to see in an inner-city area...

Thomas is able to to keep a straight face as she follows that with:

... they were willing to overlook about 30 points of non-compliance...

About 30 points at which the proposal goes against published standards for development. Thomas can't be bothered counting, so "about 30" is close enough. And "about 30" points of non-compliance is still an enormous number of points at which the proposal is ignoring Council requirements.

Aside: "About 30" sound like a small... insignificant... number. Not worth an exact count. An exact count, such as "29" or "31" is hard, measured... somehow more negative. So Thomas dismissively uses "about 30".

Is "$45 million" enough to allow Thomas to ignore Council standards and residents' objections?

... a "not in my backyard" approach backed by a short-sighted council will win little support from those trying to transform Perth.

Here's a good idea...

Identify these people who are "trying to transform Perth". Find out where they live. Add the developers who want to override local standards in order to make a huge profit. Find out where they live.

Rezone the transformers' suburbs to allow multi-storey hotels -- several storeys above council height limits, with too few car bays. Built too close to neighbouring properties.

Rezone the developers' suburbs to allow multi-storey hotels -- with no quibbles at "about 30 points of non-compliance".

See who suddenly realises the value -- and the necessity -- of the NIMBY attitude.

Then let local councils and local residents decide for themselves, how they want to live in their own neighbourhoods.

Let local councils and local residents protect their standards of living. Apply the good sense of NIMBY to protect what we have already. Against the profit motive of developers. Against the short-sighted stupidity of unthinking reporters.

Independent thinking & independent analysis of your problems by Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com