From the Publisher: A call to arms: You can fight senior retirement housing and bash OU, too
Bruce Mitchell
October 6, 2008
Publisher’s note: This column was originally published June 2, 2005. On Friday, National Church Residences of Columbus announced that they are scrapping plans for a retirement center on Ohio University land off of Stimson Avenue. (See article on page 15 in this issue.) I thought this would be a good time to re-run my 2005 column, which fairly accurately predicted what would happen.
NIMBYism (not in my back yard) has reached a new extreme in Athens as the cry goes out to stop a proposed continuing-care retirement community on the near east side.
I’m sadly amused at the self-righteous indignation of those wanting to stop a senior retirement community of all things! Like all Athens NIMBYs, those opposed always seize on the same three basic arguments.
Number one — and this applies to anything being built — it “destroys nature/the neighborhood/the community.” Number two, “it’s too big.” And number three, someone’s trying to “pull a fast one” on the unsuspecting public. This goes double if Ohio University is in any way involved. If OU plays a role, you can bet the loudest opponents are those who work for, you guessed it, Ohio University. Hope nobody tells the three finalists for President Glidden’s job about this predictable and recurrent phenomenon.
For many years, the problem was how to stop students from moving into residential neighborhoods and at the same time stop any new student housing from being built — and this from university employees!? If only you could have the university without the inconvenience of sharing the town with students.
Remember the outcry against University Commons on Athens’ west side? These were attractive parent/student-owned condos with ample parking, a shuttle bus and a pool built on an overgrown, abandoned railroad yard. Opponents argued loudly that it would destroy “the neighborhood” and it would never be filled. Few complain today.
Remember the outcry when the state transferred the old Athens Mental Health Center grounds, now known as The Ridges, to OU? You would have thought someone proposed filling in the Grand Canyon. So what secret plan did the university pull? Pour millions into restoring the buildings and fill them with high-tech research and development, add a first-rate museum, a day-care center and maintain the beautiful grounds? Not much to complain about now, I guess. Those uncaring bastards!
But back to the senior retirement community. For years, local seniors and those interested in senior issues have bemoaned the lack of housing. Studies have been made, proposals drawn up and developers sought.
So a local group of do-gooders finds a non-profit developer to consider building in Athens and begs OU to give them some land. No windfall for OU, no secret agenda mind you, just trying to help meet a community need.
But that’s plenty sufficient to sound the alarm and start the protest! Get people worked up about number 1, destruction of nature; number 2, the size of the project; and number 3, the university is trying to pull a fast one.
Of course, nobody’s against seniors or senior housing. We’re not against students either; we just don’t want them living in “”our”” neighborhood. It’s just not the right place, the project’s too big, and the university is trying to pull one over on us. Count on university employees to head up the vocal opposition.
Besides, the project could, get this, “obstruct the view of the library by highway passersby!” Boy, we sure wouldn’t want that!
I ride my bike past the proposed spot often. It’s just down from the public library, which was built in the flood plain on OU land (where were the protesters then?). The retirement center site is near the city pool and a short walk to the Athens Community Center, shopping and the university.
I can imagine seeing the seniors as I ride past, just as I now enjoy seeing international student families at Mill Street Apartments. They don’t block my view; they enhance it. What a nice place it would be to live.
I could see myself living there someday, but it will never happen. The NIMBYs will rally now, gathering their fearful forces. Calls to City Council members will grow, letters to the editor have already started pouring in, the zoning board will find insurmountable obstacles, and if all else fails, someone will bring a lawsuit and hogtie the project into a legal abyss.
Athens senior citizens don’t stand a chance. Yes, you can stop this senior retirement community, Athens, and don’t forget to heap blame on the university, too. Don’t worry about where to live when you get old. Someone could build you a nice place out in the countryside far from Athens where you won’t block anyone’s view. But that would require destroying green space, it would be too big, and someone would be “pulling a fast one” on the neighborhood.
Guess you’re just out of luck!
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