IMBYism vs. NIMBYism

A few days ago, the Boston Globe ran a letter-to-the-editor written in response to a news story about the Boston Redevelopment Authority's Scoping Determination on on Boston College's proposed Institutional Master Plan.

In the original news story, Jack Dunn, Director of Public Affairs at BC, accused the opponents of two undergraduate dormitories of engaging in "NIMBY-ism".

The letter written in response by Michelina Tawa of Brighton points the finger back at BC as engaging in IMBYism for sending their undergraduates to live in the neighborhood's backyards, instead of on-campus:

"I WAS surprised to read, in the article "City tells BC to revise its plan" (City & Region, Feb. 22), that Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn accuses the Brighton neighbors of so-called NIMBY-ism for opposing BC's plan to build dorms on the Brighton campus. NIMBY is an acronym for "not in my backyard." Dunn has it backward. For years, the Brighton neighborhood has lived with BC students "IMBY," and know only too well what that means - rowdiness, trash, and disrespect for private property. By building dorms abutting the Lake Street and Commonwealth Avenue neighborhoods, BC would be asking us not only to have students in our backyards but in our side yards, our front yards, and practically in our living rooms. For Dunn to use the pejorative "NIMBYism" to describe the Brighton neighborhood's legitimate concerns undermines the community's good-faith efforts to work cooperatively with Boston College."

Michelina Tawa, Brighton