NIMBY BANANA

NIMBY: Not in my backyard. Yeah, I know it’s important; sure, we need it; I signed a petition and voted for a tax increase to fund it. But Not In My Backyard.

BANANA: The town needs these important things, but the only solution is “Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody.” Then they’ll scream when it’s far away.

Where should we put the new firehouse? NIMBY. But what if your house catches fire? Three minutes can make a big difference … five minutes, maybe the fire doubles in size. Your neighbor’s house goes up and it spreads to yours; wouldn’t you want a firehouse right nearby? Five minutes is a long time to wait for the smoke eaters.

You want the convenience of whatever, but you don’t want it near you. Your Economics 101 course, if you didn’t sleep through it, told you that there is a cost for everything. The cost of quick access to the highway is having to live near it. Of fast fire and ambulance protection is being near the barn. Can’t separate them.

Can’t have BANANA and expect instant service.

I never liked looking at a cell phone tower until I got a phone; now I think they are beautiful. And, no, they don’t cause cancer. Take it from a broadcast engineer and repeat after me: cell phone towers don’t cause cancer and neither do the phones. Still worried? Keep the phones an inch away from your ears.