NIMBYTales: Stop the Phony

Profiting off of my haters

A NIMBY fleeing the urban den of sin.

Welcome to NIMBYTales! A new quad-weekly segment that will feature some of the best anti-housing hate mail I have received. Emails, tweets, Nextdoor comments, public comments, physical letters—this is a section celebrating the absurdity of wealthy people who oppose housing.

This Substack’s mission is to increase transparency and unity within the housing movement, and regular reminders of what housing haters say might help further that mission. NIMBYs are also pretty funny.

My train of thought is public transit! Have you received absurd criticism from a NIMBY in your life? Drop it in the comments or send me a DM and I might highlight it in a future NIMBYTales post (with full credit and links to any personal projects you want to promote, of course—unless you prefer anonymity!).

Without further ado, the first installment of NIMBYTales:

——————

Subject Line: Stop the Phony

Dear Jeremy,

Every time I go to your website, I notice that the first thing I see is that your organization's goal is to ruin Lafayette - I mean "promote" affordable housing in Lafayette. So far, you have FAILED miserably! What you have been successful at is lying to your members, lying to the city council of Lafayette, and holding secret meetings with wealthy developers to try to help them get a hold of control of Lafayette.

Affordable housing is not and has not been built; it is a BIG LIE. And you, and your cohorts seem hell bent on promoting the BIG LIE - JUST like the Trumpian Republicans in our federal government - all the still election deniers! You want to play dictator to the people of Lafayette. In California, we have to worry about the Fascist Democrats, instead of holding off the election denying Fascist Republicans. It's all about power for you, isn't it?

So, now, this organization of yours that is dedicated to the City of Lafayette - NOW its "leader" has gone and stuck his nose in the business of the city of Atherton??? You are such a phony baloney; what you are doing is dishonest, dishonorable, and, in my opinion, it borders on evil, because I think you know the truth about housing in the state. You can't name one city where there isn't enough housing. Are you having fun plotting the demise of the city of Lafayette? You think anyone will want to live in Lafayette if you take away the entire downtown area to build a bunch of ugly ass and crappy apartment buildings?

But I know, you don't care about any of that. You have told me that many times by NEVER answering any of my questions; by NEVER providing any substance or proof; by associating with the wealthy white trash developers!

But you get your ass and your nose out of the city of Atherton! You have no jurisdiction there! Screw you and all you holier than thou liars (just like election denying Trump supporters) that want to benefit off of other people's hardships. It would be nice if you got honest for a change. I will not hold my breath.

Sincerely,

[name redacted]

——————

For context, I’ve known the author of this email for a long time from my advocacy in Lafayette, where they live in a multi-million dollar home. They are likely responding to news coverage by the New York Times and elsewhere quoting me describe opposition to new homes from residents in Atherton. Atherton’s median home value is over $8 million. I am proud to use my ass and nose to help increase accountability for the city to allow more housing.

Have a good NIMBYTale? Drop it in the comments for everyone to enjoy or DM me if you want it highlighted in a future newsletter. If I feature it in a post, I’m happy to anonymize you or the sender and to promote any of your own work—just let me know!