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Vancouver Would Be Cooler If We Thought Earls Was Opening In Gastown

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(via) A cruel prankster in a quiet, family-oriented San Francisco neighbourhood recently put up a very convincing but entirely fake liquor license application notice on a shuttered business frontage indicating that the space was slated to become a Hooters.

Naturally, such a development would cause no small amount of consternation among the locals, which got us thinking that it might be a cruel but effective way to desensitize Vancouver’s worst NIMBYs to the threat of anything new or different.

Imagine the outrage if notices went up declaring the imminence of a needle exchange in Shaughnessey, a Prada flagship store on the DTES, a Whole Foods on Commercial Drive, or an Earls restaurant overlooking Gassy Jack Square in Gastown.

Granted, none of the above is an appropriate fit, but that’s the idea. Once people were let in on the farce(s), real conversations might replace the usual knee-jerk fury, self-righteousness and Gollum-like possessive psychosis that is the NIMBY norm in Vancouver’s neighbourhoods (for richer or poorer), and the prospect of future change could be examined more rationally with raised eyebrows instead of pitchforks.

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There are 2 comments

  1. I think the prank is pretty funny, and I agree with the point that it would be an entertaining way to start up dialogue, but I don’t agree with the term ‘NIMBY’ here.

    tl;dr – being invested in one’s community for it’s specific atmosphere (for better or worse) does not make one a nimby.

    A nimby doesn’t want something in their backyard regardless of where their backyard is. Even if they moved right next to the optimal place to install a wind turbine, for instance, they’d say “I don’t care where you put it, just not in my backyard”. “Maybe we do need a new youth corrections facility, just build it in anyone’s neighbourhood but mine.” That sort of thing.

    You can’t compare that mindset to someone who lives in, moves to, or at least frequents a neighbourhood because they like it’s vibe, and are upset when they perceive that aesthetic as being weakened or wrecked. It’s not ‘not in my backyard’, but rather ‘not in the neighbourhood I moved to to get away from things like Earl’s’. Earl’s isn’t new or different — it has it’s place, and that place is not anywhere and everywhere (a point with which this article seems to agree).

    People are invested in their communities and can be protective of them. I’m not saying that’s always good or right (or never obnoxious), but it’s not being a nimby… well, not necessarily, at least.

  2. Prada isn’t opening a flagship store but Versace is! Due to open very soon, likly before months end. This is on Cordova Street where a funky vintage clothing store was for 42 years, 42 years!! If I saw a notice that Earls was opening I wouldn’t be surprised. Look at all the Starbucks littering Commercial drive. As a Cordova Street business owner myself it’s hard
    I’ll admit I’m 100% Nimbified.

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