The term for today is “Self Selection”

The term for today is “self-selection.”

Self-selection is what happens when a developer decides to come into a neighborhood and tear down existing homes to build oversized apartment buildings with as much as eight to ten times the density. People don’t like this. They invested in a home – a culmination of hard work and often sacrifice to afford the biggest investment of their lives. Now eight feet from their backyard or side yard will be a wall towering over their home.

These people start attending meetings and contacting their elected officials on City Council to express their displeasure. Not the person who lives eight miles away. But the people who live next door or down the street because they are the ones most affected. That is self-selection. It is most appropriate and to be expected.

A synonym for “self-selection” is “opposition.” Developers and pro-development politicians don’t like opposition. They don’t like opposition to what they plan to do to damage your investment in your home or your neighborhood.

They say we can’t have “self-selection” (aka opposition). They say we need to do polling and let others not affected by their proposed development make the decision.

They say we can’t support the “self-selected” (opposition) who show up at CAC meetings (which is why pro-developer politicians and mayor banned them). They say we can’t support the “self-selected” (opposition) who show up at Planning Commission and City Council meetings and so we limit their speaking time to 8 minutes no matter how many show up. That way the majority of the “self-selected” (opposition) can’t speak and make others uncomfortable. That way we give the illusion that there really aren’t that many “self-selected” (opposed) to our project.

There you go folks. The word for the day is “self-selected.” And more and more the number of “self-selected” (aka opposed) to the pro-development policies of Mary-Ann Baldwin and the pro-development Council is growing every day.