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 n the record, I would like to state that I am not
a NIMBY. I am a NOMP. NIMBY is a derisive term used to denounce
individuals who care about their home environment. If working
as designed, NIMBY is not a compliment. Property rights enthusiasts
like to label other people Nimby as way of masking there own
destructive egocentrism. It's so obvious. Most of the Nimby's
I know are quite proud of that distinction. As they should be.
 NOMP,
on the other hand, is an acronym for "Not on my planet."
I am a NOMP. Much wider in scope, not only do I want people to
stop building in my neighborhood, I want them to stop building.
No more roads, no more hotels, no more strip malls, no more multiplexes,
and no more golf courses. And in coastal North County, no more
homes. Then again, I am rather extreme.
For the most
part, all of the Nimbys I have worked with are caring, committed
people, who still believe in the American dream. Doctors, lawyers,
building inspectors, teachers, and seamstresses, all working
within the system to protect a quality of life that includes
a healthy environment. It's safe to say Nimbys have been a part
of western civilization since Thomas Robert Malthus sounded the
alarm in 1798.
In his essay,
Principle of Population, Malthus contended that poverty
and distress are unavoidable because population increases faster
than the means of subsistence. If I didn't know better, I would
think Mr. Malthus spent time sitting in the gridlock of Interstate
5. How many more people can call the San Diego region home before
it's too much? 5 million? Six? The signs of distress are everywhere;
can poverty be far behind?
The question
is, can our communities continue to thrive at the current rate
of development? We are now at the point where there are no "outskirts"
in which to build the greed factories that line the pockets of
the haves, while have-nots learn to live with less of everything.
At a time when water scarcity is being forecasted, ecosystems
collapsing, and pollution is increasing, it makes no sense to
continue adding more to the mix.
In Oceanside,
Nimbys are fighting to stop a massive resort complex from being
built on public land. In Carlsbad, Nimbys struggle to preserve
what little open space remains. For Del Mar residents the backyards
in question are bluffs and the North County Transit District's
right of way. Encinitas, a hot spot of Nimby activity, has a
network of citizen activists doing battle with an entrenched
political structure long fueled by flower power.
Last week,
this NOMP and a few Nimbys filed an appeal with the California
Coastal Commission to prevent the City of Encinitas from developing
land adjacent to the San Elijo Lagoon. Not because we wish to
deny kids sports fields, but because we believe it is in the
communities best interest to protect the lagoon, the ecological
reserve, and its remaining watershed. Soccer fields can go anywhere,
wetlands can not.
Recently a
new front has opened in Encinitas over the Caltras Co. proposal
to place a 10-acre genetic engineering research facility across
the street from the YMCA. Tired of growing "old world"
flowers, the folks at the Paul Ecke Ranch want to take agriculture
off the land into the laboratory, making Encinitas the Frankienflower
capitol of the world. Not only will local Nimbys take issue with
this, I'm sure quite a few NOMPs will make their displeasure
known. The Biotic Brigade is probably already planning future
actions.
As far as
I am concerned, Nimbys are the new revolutionaries. After putting
in a full day of work, anyone who can still spend long hours
fighting the developers at City Hall to protect their neighborhood,
deserves the respect of their community, not the contempt of
those who would destroy it. Call me a Nimby or call me a NOMP.
It doesn't matter because I see such terms as affirmation of
the work I am doing to slow the Growth Machine. 
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