What have NIMBY's done in yout town?

[CShaveRR]

Larry, wind farms in Lake Michigan are an issue, too--they've been run out of the best area of the lake by NIMBYs, and the area they're looking at now (down where I grew up) seems to be a battle ground. I've heard already that concrete supports are hazardous to the lake environment! You would think that the settlers in this area, used to windmills at work in their native European country, would certainly understand that they wouldn't be eyesores.

Locally, NIMBYS don't complain too much about railroad operations, beyond the ill-thought-out arguments that trains should not be allowed to meet each other because it puts the trespassers at risk. There was one instance where people living across a street from UP's Finley Road staging area got the railroad to cooperate and move the idling locomotives west a short distance. (Trains were staged here since time immemorial, but the fact that UP staged more trains due to increased business, and a slight line relocation that may have altered the vibration problem, may have caused the issue to rear its head in the late 1990s.) Cooperation was the word used when UP specified the limits of the staging area in its bulletins (the signposts at the ends of the staging area are very precise).

Of course, they didn't get it right at first--they had the staging area back across the river and into Glen Ellyn. One "neighbor" actually took matters into her own hands and went up to yell at the engineer of the staging train. She couldn't be made to understand that she was standing on or near a live track, and another train came around the curve and killed her.

[diningcar]

The newer acronym  BANANA  is now in vogue.

BUILD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ANYWHERE ANYTHING

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Sawtooth500

Well in Chicago back in the late 80's early 90's they got Glenview Naval Air Station to close - guess what? IT WAS THERE BEFORE YOU BUILT YOUR STUPID HOUSES! However, the O'Hare expansion is a great example where NIMBY's LOST!

In fairness, Glenview NAS served only the Naval Reserve and was closed as part of a general base closing by the Navy and the other armed forces.

 

[ndbprr]

In New Lenox Il they had a cow when CN bought EJ&E and increased trans to one an hour.. The mayor actually said people would die waiting for trains to pass. Idiots!

[Sawtooth500]

Well in Chicago back in the late 80's early 90's they got Glenview Naval Air Station to close - guess what? IT WAS THERE BEFORE YOU BUILT YOUR STUPID HOUSES! However, the O'Hare expansion is a great example where NIMBY's LOST!

[fafnir242]

Being I live in Springfield, Illinois, I'm right in the middle of the proverbial gold mine of NIMBYs right now.  Amtrak is working on high-speed rail from St. Louis to Chicago on the Lincoln Corridor, and one of the things that would have to be done in Springfield is double track the mainline to account for the increased traffic that is also proposed with the new rail.  Not only are citizens getting all up in arms about it, but the city government itself will not allow Union Pacific to acquire the land necessary to put in a second track.  People in Springfield are under the misguided impression that high-speed rail means that trains are going to be flying through Springfield constantly, when in actuality they will still have to go 30 mph or so through town.  It's just a big ole mess...

[garyla]

Here in southern California, my favorite NIMBY story doesn't involve the rails either.

Back around the 1970s, a lot of new tract homes got built in the flight path of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.  Until the base recently closed, some of the people who had bought there had the gall to complain about jet noise!

[ButchKnouse]

Sounds like there is some just plain old small town jealously in McCalla, Alabama. They don't want anyone else to make money.

Several years ago a regional garbage landfill was built near Minot, North Dakota. Once it was up and going, the protesters came out of the woodwork.

It turned out most of the protest leaders had applied for jobs, but didn't get hired.

[tree68]

It's not rail-related, but there has been substantial opposition to wind power in this area - mostly by the 'summer people,' not the locals.

Ironically, many of those people have property facing the St Lawrence River or Lake Ontario - the proposed wind farm would be behind them as they gazed at their scenic view.  Even more ironic is the wind farm that was constructed across the river on Canadian soil, and directly in their scenic view...

[rockymidlandrr]

As someone who comes from the small town of McCalla, AL I am getting to see first hand at what people will do to stop a railroad from building and improving.  Trains actually did a pretty good job of covering the story here in the paragraph in that article.  At one point, things here actually got pretty heated here over the new Intermodal hub NS is building here.  For example, one of the people that sold their property to NS (and had the largest part of land in the proposed site), their hay fields somehow were set on fire. 

In my case here, its the ones that live the furthest away from the site that have the loudest voices of opposition. 

So with all of that said, just like the title here, what have NIMBY's done in opposition in your town?