Following municipal elections that saw progressive candidates Pete Fry and Olivia Chow take office in Vancouver and Toronto, members of the respective chapters of the Canadian Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) Association fear a sense of community may form in their neighbourhoods. The Canadian NIMBY Association was founded some 60 years ago by concerned homeowners who feared that the neighbourhoods they purchased houses in might change over the next 30 to 40 years. As per their newsletter, the association has since “stood against the destruction of the idyllic suburban life, opposing walkable neighbourhoods, community gatherings, and harmful sidewalks or bike lanes which could disrupt car traffic.”
The Vancouver branch’s leader Kelly Munroe explained that these oppositions are with good reason. “Homeowners should be able to pressure wash their driveways in peace without having to worry about the possibility of strangers enjoying themselves nearby.”
The Toronto branch had been campaigning strongly for Brad Bradford in Toronto and Ken Sim in Vancouver, placing signs on their large, immaculately maintained lawns advocating for the two candidates. Unfortunately for members of this elite skyroots organizing effort, their failure to turn up to the polls over fears of having to leave their property for an afternoon led to their candidates getting crushed on election day. The NIMBY-backed candidates losing out has had a drastic effect on neighbourhood safety, according to the association.
“The day after Chow was reelected, I saw my neighbour’s children laughing and playing on my neighbour’s driveway. I could’ve sworn my neighbour had no children. Chow must’ve spawned them. When I called the police, they told me it was allowed,” Toronto NIMBY Association member Susan Dyer lamented to The Peak. “I just can’t help but feel as though Bradford would have prevented this kind of mayhem. I can’t put up with another term of this”
Similar dangerous activity has been occurring in Vancouver as well. Bryan Slough, 78, recounted to us that just moments after Sim lost office, plans for a community garden to be built down the street from his property took form. “It’s going to make the whole neighbourhood smell like fresh vegetables, and might even attract butterflies, bees, and other pests [ . . . ] I’m not against community gardens, just not in my back yard.” Slough told us that the Vancouver NIMBY association is already rebuilding after this loss by asking Colleen Hardwick to start a vigilante group to end affordable housing. For good.
Protests are in the works following news that a new network of bike lanes may be opened in a neighbourhood in Point Grey, which could lead to a dangerous amount of people enjoying the outdoors, and potentially disrupting the flow of traffic in a NIMBY stronghold.
At least five branches of the association are exploring forms of disobedience which will not force protestors to interact with each other, as this could lead to an outbreak of friendship in the area.
