NOT HERE, NOT NOW: NO WAY TO RUN A COMMUNITY

It's disappointing to see the "NIMBY" view become as a much a part of the
Modesto landscape as old farms, new homes and the dreaded downtown "fountain."

Apartments in Village I? A senior citizens complex on Scenic Drive? A drug
rehabilitation center on East Orangeburg Avenue?

"Not in my back yard." "Not the right place." "Not what I expected when I
moved in!" (Although, to be fair, the objections to the senior complex
apparently have more to do with saving trees than spurning seniors.)

Residents understandably are cautious about change, and when such proposals
emerge, public hearings and a frank exchange of views are healthy for the
community.

Some of the prevailing stereotypes, however, are less constructive. The
assumptions that affordable apartments house only deadbeats and that
addiction recovery centers are crawling with derelicts -- not people
honestly trying to get better -- call to mind a Dr. Seuss rhyme:

I do not like them in my midst,

I do not like them one small bit.

The reality is, good people are not confined to certain shapes, colors,
ages or income levels. Nor is it impossible for addicts to clean up and
redeem themselves.

A balanced and compassionate city needs entry-level apartments, housing
that meets seniors' needs, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. If
every nook of the community screeches about having such facilities nearby,
we'll have few such facilities anywhere.

Then what happens when your aging parent needs senior living quarters, your
nephew needs help beating drugs, or your daughter's first job pays $22,000
a year and she needs an affordable apartment?

Increasing numbers of area residents will face such questions: As Modesto
grows and demand for entry-level homes swamps supply, driving up rents; as
the baby bloomer generation retires, ages and requires senior housing; and
as Proposition 36, approved by state voters last year, obliges courts to
sentence nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail.

We as citizens need to fight to pull such facilities into our community,
not shut them out. At the end of Dr. Seuss' rhyme, the green eggs were good
despite all the trepidation. If citizens give the proposals at hand a
similar chance, they might find themselves thinking, down the road:

I do not mind them in my midst,

I do not mind them, not a bit.