> NIMBYs really are selfish and shallow people My parents bought a house in an almost-rural region of southern California in 1991. It was difficult to lose the

> NIMBYs really are selfish and shallow people My parents bought a house in an almost-rural region of southern California in 1991. It was difficult to lose the beautiful field across the street when a housing development went in, but they shrugged their shoulders and moved on -- no biggie. But more recently, the tiny empty lot next to theirs has been sold and 3 really ugly apartments just went in that are totally out of character with the rest of the neighborhood. If they could have blocked this from happening, they would have -- and I don't think that's selfish NIMBYism. Your next-door neighbors' behavior affects your life profoundly, and when they do dumb stuff like building ugly, stuffed-in apartments that don't fit in with the houses next door, it will affect you negatively. All to say, NIMBYism gets a bad rap, but having a basic standard of caring about the quality of one's neighborhood (especially next-door lots) isn't selfish or shallow. By extension, you'd have to say it's "selfish and shallow" to pay more to not live in a bad part of town... is it really?