NIMBY America Archive

In his critical op-ed, Moderation, Thy Name is Not Amend. 4, former mayor, civic engagement expert, and corporate consultant Patrick Slevin, advised Florida thought leaders to pass citizen participation legislation in 2010. Slevin outlined how passing citizen legislative reforms, as part of an overarching grassroots strategy, will help frustrated voters overcome the current electoral Catch 22 that defaults toward passage of Amend. 4.

A newly organized California group called, Partnership for Sustainable Communities recently issued an article debating whether “sustainability” is enough to win community and political support for controversial real estate projects. Patrick Slevin, a nationally recognized expert on NIMBY (Not-In-My-Back-Yard) cautions corporate developers to adopt civic engagement practices to secure “political sustainability” for their projects.

The article is titled, Sustainability vs. NIMBY: Can Sustainable Features Help Win Support.

NIMBY expert and civic engagement consultant Patrick Slevin was the featured speaker at an ULI event. Mr. Slevin presented his program titled, Civic Engagement: Achieving Social Sustainability for Controversial Real Estate Projects. The venue was located in Tampa , Florida .

The St. Petersburg Times reported on the event. Click here for the story titled, Developers Flock to Speech By Consultant Who Gives Tips on How To Limit Public Opposition.

“Every week, in hundreds of cities across the country there are part-time elected officials rejecting site plans and zoning requests impacting the bottom lines of numerous private corporations,” Patrick Slevin told elected officials, planners and developers Friday during a lunch sponsored by the Volusia County Association of Responsible Developers.

Read the full article: Civic Engagement Key to NIMBY

Patrick Slevin, president of The Slevin Group in Tallahassee , likes to go to the brain trust or “kitchen cabinet” of elected officials. Half of NIMBY conflicts can be avoided, if companies would simply employ civic engagement practices at the grassroots level as part of their corporate philosophy and planning process, Slevin said. The trend toward infill development makes interaction with the community all the more critical, he added. NIMBYism stems from a broken notice and hearing process at the city and county level, Slevin said. Public notices tend to appear too late in the development process, catching the community by surprise and leaving the developer vulnerable to the effects of negative public opinion.

Read the full html version on: Florida Real Estate Journal

Download the article: ICSC Conf. NIMBY Panel

Homeowners angered by unchecked growth are increasingly willing to take on developers at city hall – and are more successful when they do. Consultant Patrick Slevin advises his corporate clients to get community and political support for real estate projects before the NIMBY genie leaves the bottle. According to Slevin, it’s not so much the sophistication of NIMBY activists, but rather the absence of better civic practices on behalf of professionals that feeds an unnecessary NIMBY cycle.

Download the full article: Grassroots Warriors, Patrick Slevin Interview

Many developers and advocates say NIMBY resistance is rising. A recent national survey found that overall opposition to local development was up 5 percent in 2007 from the year before. “It’s a bare-knuckle fight out there between progress and protecting the status quo,” said NIMBY expert Patrick Slevin, former mayor of Safety Harbor , Fla. , and CEO of The Slevin Group, a Tallahassee , Fla.- based public relations firm specializing in land-use issues. The country has moved from “a NIMBY nation to a BANANA republic,” said Slevin, explaining that BANANA is an acronym for Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone.

Read the full article: A Fight in Woodstock

Traditionally, communications on land use applications rely upon bureaucratic notices and several public hearings. I would argue that the notice and hearing system does more to create community conflict than it does to mitigate it.

Download the full article: What Cities Can Do About NIMBY

Patrick Slevin, a Tallahassee-based public relations consultant who specializes in overcoming neighborhood opposition to new projects, has a message for builders, developers and businesses worried that Lesley Blackner’s Florida Hometown Democracy amendment will come to be: “Hometown Democracy is already here.”

Read the full article: Hometown Democracy Already Here

Not in their backyards. They operate from dining-room tables and garages with little or no budget. Often, their only resources are a cell phone and a personal computer. They rarely have experts or strategists at their disposal, just their gut instincts. Still, NIMBY activists — or NIMBYists — have turned into a successful underground force, defeating countless development projects across the nation. Their “not in my backyard” battle cry is feared by developers and a source of distress for the industry.

Download the full article: Slevin Quoted in Orlando Sentinel

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