"I'm not a NIMBY, I just don't think it's appropriate to have [insert offending building/business/person] in my back yard."
That's the general sentiment coming from a number of "concerned residents" who've boldly come out to voice their opposition to Kearney Funeral Home setting up shop in a vacant heritage building at 450 East Second Ave. beside the Cambie Street Police Station at the foot of the Cambie Bridge.
Not surprisingly, most of the people who are up in arms over the funeral home and signed an online petition live in nearby condos and are freaking out about things like declining property values, lack of parking, a funeral home not fitting the "character" of the neighbourhood and "negative effects on some people's emotional, spiritual and mental health."
Here's the thing. We live relatively close to this supposedly controversial locale, and for us the biggest thing that doesn't fit with the "character" of the neighbourhood and even comes close to negatively affecting our emotional, spiritual and mental health is the onslaught of pricey condo developments being built in the area. In fact, we'd take a funeral home (which, we might add, provides comfort to those in grief) moving into a small heritage building over an overpriced condo development blocking out the sun and skyline any day - to say nothing of the whiney, over-entitled residents who inhabit them.
PIDGIN HOLED
On the other side of the NIMBY coin, we've been watching from afar the peculiar goings-on over at newly opened restaurant Pidgin.
It seems the stylish "Asian fusion" joint located across from Pigeon Park on the edge of Gastown has once again raised the misplaced ire of "poverty activist" Ivan Drury and his band of merry cranksters who've made a habit of picketing and harassing new businesses they feel don't fit the "character" of the neighbourhood and, in their view, contribute to the gentrification of the Downtown Eastside and displacement of those living well below the poverty line. Protesters have even taken to shining flashlights in diners' faces and nagging patrons upon entering and leaving the restaurant.
We're not entirely sure what these shenanigans accomplish, and we really try our best not to use a word like "shenanigans." But as many people have pointed out in print and online, if protesters are so concerned about the livability of their neighbourhood, how does attempting to shut down a restaurant or doughnut shop accomplish that. And why don't they picket and harass the drug dealers on every other corner, who surely do more harm and contribute to more misery than a $20 foiegras rice bowl with chestnuts, daikon and unagi glaze. twitter.com/KudosKvetches
