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NIMBYism and Low Stakes
Feb. 26th, 2016 07:41 pmNIMBYism (Not In My Backyard) is common lots of places, but I imagine Calgary is pretty bad for it among Canadian cities. It's part of that whole Conservative/Libertarian screw-you-I've-got-mine mindset.
A Google search of NIMBY Calgary will bring up lots of examples, but the most recent one is the city's plans to build a Bus-Rapid-Transit route that goes down a major north-south artery road in the southwest. This could including designating one lane each way as being for transit only. This could increase congestion on that road.
But I'm not really interested in the pros and cons of a city transit project. I'm more interested in the reaction to it by a handful of residents in the southwest. Basically, they've hijacked the meetings with protests, yelling, general asshattery, and, most recently, death threats. So Nenshi cancelled the meetings.
To me, he's doing what any good manager should do when people disrespect your employees - you show them the door. They can return when they learn to behave by the rules we teach kids in kindergarten.
Online, these people lost their shit, which was predictable. In the Facebook thread related to that article, I wrote: "Perhaps Ready to Engage should consider apologizing. Just sayin'." The most interesting response was the one where someone asked if I was a paid astroturfer (someone hired by an organization to push an agenda in online discussions). Which is odd, because municipal governments don't have the kind of money that multinational corporations do. Plus, the city can't afford me for a shit job like that.
So let's summarize: People are losing their collective shit, to the point of abusing city workers, over bus lanes. What the hell is going on here?
I'm sure the other side will defend their position by saying how hard done by they are and on how they don't have a voice, etc. etc. The fact remains that they are a tiny minority, they voted for the municipal government just like everyone did, and they're confusing not being heard with not being obeyed.
There's an old saying "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low." I think that's what's going on here. Worst case scenario for the opponents of the bus lane: Traffic gets worse and their commute gets a few minutes longer. That's it. Oh, and they get to pretend they're martyrs - that has to be a benefit to people who think they're being horribly mistreated, yet this is the worst thing on their agenda.
If they win, they get to pretend they stuck it to the man. Aside from that, their life doesn't materially change.
They have nothing to lose. They literally have no appreciable downside if they completely screw the pooch. There is no reason for them to ever negotiate a middle ground. People who have a lot to lose? They're eager to negotiate, because they have so much to lose.
So we have a group of people who get to prop up their self-image no matter how this turns out, and there's no down-side to them being completely unreasonable.
Another reason could be the belligerent nature of political discourse in general, especially with the current US primaries (and, let's be honest, our own Conservative party), but that's fodder for another post.
A Google search of NIMBY Calgary will bring up lots of examples, but the most recent one is the city's plans to build a Bus-Rapid-Transit route that goes down a major north-south artery road in the southwest. This could including designating one lane each way as being for transit only. This could increase congestion on that road.
But I'm not really interested in the pros and cons of a city transit project. I'm more interested in the reaction to it by a handful of residents in the southwest. Basically, they've hijacked the meetings with protests, yelling, general asshattery, and, most recently, death threats. So Nenshi cancelled the meetings.
To me, he's doing what any good manager should do when people disrespect your employees - you show them the door. They can return when they learn to behave by the rules we teach kids in kindergarten.
Online, these people lost their shit, which was predictable. In the Facebook thread related to that article, I wrote: "Perhaps Ready to Engage should consider apologizing. Just sayin'." The most interesting response was the one where someone asked if I was a paid astroturfer (someone hired by an organization to push an agenda in online discussions). Which is odd, because municipal governments don't have the kind of money that multinational corporations do. Plus, the city can't afford me for a shit job like that.
So let's summarize: People are losing their collective shit, to the point of abusing city workers, over bus lanes. What the hell is going on here?
I'm sure the other side will defend their position by saying how hard done by they are and on how they don't have a voice, etc. etc. The fact remains that they are a tiny minority, they voted for the municipal government just like everyone did, and they're confusing not being heard with not being obeyed.
There's an old saying "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low." I think that's what's going on here. Worst case scenario for the opponents of the bus lane: Traffic gets worse and their commute gets a few minutes longer. That's it. Oh, and they get to pretend they're martyrs - that has to be a benefit to people who think they're being horribly mistreated, yet this is the worst thing on their agenda.
If they win, they get to pretend they stuck it to the man. Aside from that, their life doesn't materially change.
They have nothing to lose. They literally have no appreciable downside if they completely screw the pooch. There is no reason for them to ever negotiate a middle ground. People who have a lot to lose? They're eager to negotiate, because they have so much to lose.
So we have a group of people who get to prop up their self-image no matter how this turns out, and there's no down-side to them being completely unreasonable.
Another reason could be the belligerent nature of political discourse in general, especially with the current US primaries (and, let's be honest, our own Conservative party), but that's fodder for another post.
