Lamest NIMBYism Ever

Update (May 22): Followup posts to this one are here and here.

Admittedly I'm biased because I'm a big soccer fan. But check out the arguments of the critics in this article on the proposed new soccer stadium down on the Waterfront in Vancouver:

"They say the stadium will ruin the heritage image of Gastown, and don't believe the project will benefit their community.

"This is a neighbourhood. We know one another, we meet one another," said Carol Sill of the Gastown Residents Association.

"A stadium like this, planned as it is, looks like it was just photo-shopped in. It doesn't relate to the area in any way."

John Stovell of the Gastown Neighbourhood Coalition said two other large sports facilities - B.C. Place and General Motors Place - are close by, and and have done little to boost local business.

"These stadiums have had very little positive impact. People tend to come to the stadium in a car, go into the stadium, buy a $75-hamburger, leave the stadium and go home."

Let me just clarify that the stadium is only mildly adjacent to, rather than in, Gastown, and that it will be built above the existing railway tracks. Apparently the air above the tracks is part of the heritage character of the neighbourhood. Once this heritage air is ruined, people in the neighbourhood will no longer know each other or talk to each other, even though it is also true that the stadium should be opposed because it will have no impact on the neighbourhood.

Most of all, the proposed stadium doesn't relate to the area at all - whatever that means. Maybe the CBC just did a poor job of articulating people's concerns, but people who oppose any change of any kind for any reason get on my nerves sometimes.

I'm not very organized but I'll have to see what kind of contribution I can make to conveying to the city that there are people in Vancouver (such as those in this online forum, which digresses into some history on the LA Dodgers) who think the stadium is a great idea.

Of course given that according to city plans... "After the Initial Review is complete, staff will report to City Council who will decide whether to proceed further with the planning for the project. If so, the proposal would be folded into the anticipated Waterfront Lands/Hub Structure Plan Study, followed by an Official Development Plan process and/or Rezoning process, as normal for such a major project."

...it might be tricky to know exactly when public input is most effective.

I guess I missed the open houses but I'm pretty sure they're still taking public input of one kind of another for a good while before any shovels hit the ground or get packed away.