Cincinnati City Council is preparing to retract the zoning exemption previously passed to make way for the ambitious Hyde Park Square development. If they do, it will represent a victory for the Hyde Park NIMBYs who mobilized against the project with such urgency that you’d have thought the neighborhood was being invaded by a foreign military power.
It would also represent a victory for stasis, civic decay, the region’s landlords, and other Midwestern cities that need not worry about competing with a dynamic and growing Cincinnati, as well as stodgy enemies of change of all stripes.
Young people and families looking to find quality housing at an affordable price, you’re out of luck. Retirees with paid-off mortgages and mega 401(k) s, rejoice. Nothing swells the home equity of baby boomer Hyde Parkers like artificial housing scarcity.
I’m a pretty moderate Democrat who sometimes wonders why I’m not a Republican, but this kind of NIMBY class and generational warfare makes me want to grab a pitchfork and start singing the Internationale.
If the developers don’t sufficiently cave to NIMBY demands by Sept. 4, City Council will have to decide whether to withdraw the exemption or allow a ballot initiative brought by the NIMBYs to go forward. Why would council not want this on the ballot, where a broader and hopefully more sober electorate can preserve the exemption and strike a blow for progress?
It’s pretty simple. They’re worried about losing their seats.
Democrats on council can’t afford to lose votes
Council is in hot water over violence in the city, including numerous gruesome murders and the recent viral mob attack. Victoria Parks is still inexplicably on City Council after making inflammatory comments about the attack. Everybody on the council, the mayor, and all three Hamilton County commissioners are Democrats; thus, public safety failures are perceived by many as failures of Democratic governance.
While the Democrats who run the city are getting heat, the Republicans and the Charter Committee are feeling newly optimistic. Last election, they broke against the blue wall like a ripple against a mighty dam. Now, they’re each hoping for, if not a tidal wave, at least a decent swell that gets them a couple of seats.
The Democrats can’t afford to lose too many votes, least of all from latte liberals in Hyde Park angry about new housing. If too many people start bucking the Democratic slate card and splitting their vote, several of the DNC council spots will be vulnerable. City Council will try to head this off by removing the exemption at their meeting on Sept. 4.
I don’t want to be too harsh on council. The majority of them passed the exemption in the first place and would prefer to keep it if possible. They’re just at the mercy of the NIMBYs, who are the real bad guys.
NIMBYism, like that motivating the anti-development movement of Hyde Park, is a straightforward theft from the future. Future generations will prosper if we promote dynamism and permit people to invest in new and ambitious projects. But NIMBYism seeks to hoard space and resources for those who already have much of both in the present. Those who are starting now and those to come are the ones who pay.
It may seem like the Hyde Park Square project is small beans in the long term, but it is just one instance of a national problem. Multiply the Hyde Park NIMBYs by ten thousand and you get a sense of our national blockade on housing and new development via excessive local veto.
It’s a sad day when the NIMBYs can force City Council to back down and kill good development. It’s a shame council has backed itself into a corner by being slow to address violence.
That strange confluence made by two of our city’s biggest challenges, the high cost of housing and violent crime, is the ultimate NIMBY legacy. I hope they’re proud.
Christopher Wood is a neurologist who lives in Clifton.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati council caves in Hyde Park Square showdown to save their seats | Opinion
Reporting by Christopher Wood / Cincinnati Enquirer
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