Open Your Eyes to OpenNewYork

by fuelgrannie : fuelgrannie – excerpt

Just who are these Yimby lobbyists behind the push to rezone Soho and Noho?

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s call to rezone Soho and Noho seems more like Blaz’s desperate, last-year-in-office, attempt to appease his real estate developer donors more than it does any sincere step towards providing truly affordable housing to working New Yorkers.

And this rushed push to upzone two industrial, historical and particularly unique downtown Manhattan neighborhoods has found its ultimate cheerleader in Yimby [“yes in my backyard”] group Open New York.

But who exactly is Open New York, aka ONY?…

And what exactly is Yimby?

Yimby is the pro-gentrification movement and clapback to its older Nimby opposition, composed of what used to be the 1960s/1970s “not in my backyard” racist Archie Bunker stalwarts opposing any potential real estate development in their area. The Yimby movement, not just in NYC but nationally too, claims to be about housing equity thus the potential insidiousness lies in its promoters flying under the radar as well-meaning “housing activists” who portray themselves as cute, fun and accessible. Twitter usernames include avocado emojis (“hey! healthiness!”) and/or bike emojis (“hey! small carbon footprint! awesomeness!”) to enhance this manipulated semblance of niceness and/or normalcy…(more)

“Bikes against Cars” is now “Bikes against Art”.

YIMBY front group, SF Bike Coalition, has taken on the SF DeYoung Museum, art lovers, the elderly and disabled, middle class Asians living in single family homes, environmentalists, backyard gardeners, and pretty much everyone who drives a car or objects to being forced into a dense urban development lifestyle.

They couldn’t have picked a worse time to try to sell their brand of outdoor city recreation. COVID variants  are driving people further apart, and the toxic smoke from the fires once again threatens to keep them indoors. No one is thinking about giving up the safety and security of their cars and many people are moving out of the cities.  But, you wouldn’t know that if you look at the bills the Sacramento politicians are serving up for Newsom to to sign. He is already being blamed for the dire consequences of years of neglect of the state’s water and forest management by his Northern constituents and the state’s farmers. Will he take on single family homeowners as well?