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Originally Posted by markson33
NIMBY obviously stands for "Not In My Back Yard", but doesn't qualify why, or how big the back yard is. The why could be a smell, crime, or gates (as in the case with Buncher's plan).
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I don't think the fact that "back yard" may be vaguely defined is grounds for entirely eliminating it from the sense of the term, and I do think the attitude has to be something like, "Maybe somewhere in my area, but not right here where I live."
So if someone said, "Pedestrian/bike-only streets have their place in Pittsburgh, but I don't want them in the Strip where I like to drive my car around on the side streets," that might be an example of NIMBYism. But if someone just hated pedestrian/bike-only streets in general, then objecting to them anywhere they were proposed, including but not limited to the Strip, is not NIMBYism, because it lacks that sense of trying to protect a particular place within a greater relevant area.
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Many on this board are opposed to Buncher's existing plan on an urban planning basis. And we care because it is in our proverbial backyard. Would we care if Buncher had this plan for Mosul Iraq? No, because its not in our backyard. In fact, we would probably praise it in Mosul on the basis of growth & development.
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No, I think you are missing the real sense of the term NIMBY and what the "back yard" is meant to refer to. Again, the idea is specifically about things when you acknowledge they might have to be, or should be, somewhere in your area, but you don't want them specifically in your "back yard".
So, to use the paradigmatic prison example, people might agree their county does need a prison, but they don't want their county building a prison within a few blocks of their residence. In this example, the person cares about the county in which they live, but they also care in particular about their residence and its immediate surroundings, and only the latter qualifies as their "back yard".
Conversely, by redefining "back yard" to mean whatever area you might care about, you are eliminating the actual meaning of the term "NIMBY". To continue the example, if the county is just as much the person's "back yard" as the few blocks around their residence, then it no longer makes sense to say they don't want the prison in their back yard, because they DO want the prison in their county. But while they want it in their county, they don't want it within a few blocks of their residence, and that is exactly the sort of sentiment that "not in my back yard" is meant to convey.
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We are (generally speaking) urban planning/design snobs. We don't want bad design in our back yard - we are therefor the definition of NIMBYS.
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I don't see many if any people here saying, "in general this would be good use of urban land in Pittsburgh, but I don't want to see it near me in the Strip." That is what it would take to be an actual NIMBY. For what you are describing, "snob" is a fine enough term, and it doesn't really have anything to do with a "back yard" effect. Heck, "urban planning snobs" can and do criticize poor urban planning outcomes in places they have never visited and will likely never visit. That's the exact opposite of the attitude of a NIMBY.
So no, just because you have an opinion on an urban planning issue in Pittsburgh doesn't make you a NIMBY. That term specifically refers to a more narrow set of attitudes.
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But anyhow, I guess you're right with respect to letting the idiots vent and rant and generally look and act like fools to the developers and the city/county. That way they can be done, the development can generally continue anyhow, and maybe a couple of harmless concessions can be added. I guess that works. 
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