Do affluent Chicago suburbs suffer from NIMBY syndrome?

[jamaicabound60565]

It's not just affluent suburbs. Sure in a city like Joliet or Aurora they would probably welcome Navistar for the jobs but the NIMBY attitude isn't just affluent suburbs. Even more modest suburbs dont want a garbage dump or a nuclear power plant in their backyard, its just the more affluent suburbs that actually seem to have the pull to keep those things out of their suburbs.

[firemonkey53]

Affluent, I live in Naperville and trust me Lisle isn't affluent.

[cubssoxfan]

Navistar is balking because of law suits from a few local residents. Navistar does not want the headaches of litigation and the associated delays. This also used to be a corporate location for Lucent, didn't it? And believe me, the competition is a lot broader and stiffer than Fort Wayne!
The few screwing things up royally for the many.
AND YES affluent locations have more money to fight these situations. It's what has blocked the 53 extension into Lake County for at least 20 years.

[chet everett]

I believe the history of the site that Navistar is eyeing goes back to the predecessor firms of Lucent, but the documents refer to Lucent as the former user -- Welcome to the Village of Lisle - Document Central

This is pretty clearly "nimby" thinking as the folks with homes over there (which range from kinda modest to "WOWWIEE") have gotten spoiled as the site has been massively underutilized for a really long time as Lucent has been through much turmoil. It sorta boggles my mind that folks would act like they expect it to stay vacant. It totally cries out to be a "HQ / R&D Center" and all things considered that is a pretty decent use of the site.

I hope that sanity prevails and the Lisle elected officials, together with whatever State of Illinois folks get involved, will help Navistar to develop this in a responsible way.

[Justabystander]

It is truly unbelievable in this economy that Lisle residents would pass up tax dollars, potential buyers for their homes and weaken the local economy by suing Navistar. These individuals are knuckleheads, and have no idea of a big picture. They would much rather have a hulk of an empty building with cracked parking lots adjacent to their homes. When I read this story, it seemed too amazing to be true. The schools in Lisle must be awful given that the kids have decended from these intelligent litigants.

[css9450]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I believe the history of the site that Navistar is eyeing goes back to the predecessor firms of Lucent, but the documents refer to Lucent as the former user -- Welcome to the Village of Lisle - Document Central

This is pretty clearly "nimby" thinking as the folks with homes over there (which range from kinda modest to "WOWWIEE") have gotten spoiled as the site has been massively underutilized for a really long time as Lucent has been through much turmoil. It sorta boggles my mind that folks would act like they expect it to stay vacant.

Its even more amazing that the buildings (well, the majority of them as I understand it) are barely ten years old. We built the Naperville and Lisle campuses of Lucent back in 1998-2000. Unfortunately almost as soon as they opened, cutbacks at Lucent meant much of the Lisle complex was under-utilized for a long time. Why anyone would actually prefer a vacant set of buildings including two big parking garages is beyond me, and a shame. Maybe those residents thought if the buildings stayed vacant long enough, they would just go away?

[sgresident]

It is not just affluent communities that fight things. I do think it is a shame that a few loud voices are the ones that have more impact than the silent majority. It would have been a major get for the headquarters to be located in lisle and remain in Illinois and bring jobs etc. Now, the large space can continue to remain vacant and the navistar location down the road in warrenville may very well disappear and remain vacant. I totally understand Navistar saying "screw it" we don't need the negative publicity. We may as well look to a location that actually wants us. the same situation happened in Sugar Grove around 15 years ago. Menards distribution center wanted to locate on industrial property directly across from the aurora airport. residents went wild against it, so they pulled their application and built down the road in plano. A few years ago, the raging waves water park wanted to locate in sugar grove, again, residents went wild against it. It is located down the road in yorkville. Now, there is talk of a huge recreational development/stadium etc possibly locating in yorkville because of the proximity of the waterpark.