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Dental

E xcellence

Smile Often, Laugh A Lot, Live Long
Cheryl L. Malick, DMD
What’s Your Number?

Why Nimby Is A Bad Idea 1 Tooth 4 Teeth

by Joe Trachtenberg,
Chairman of Collier County’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee
hese days most everyone agrees we have Picture this - it’s 3 AM and you hear a noise in your house, or
an affordable housing crisis in Collier you just awoke with chest pains. Or the pool guy didn’t show up,
TCounty. Home prices have skyrocketed, your dog groomer is booked, you’ve been seated in a restaurant for
6 Teeth 6 Teeth
rents are out of sight and more of our neighbors 20 minutes and no one took your drink order.
are being forced to pack up and move to less We live in beautiful Collier County - currently rated among
expensive areas, often out of the county. the best places in the world - and are almost totally dependent
Yet public hearings to consider new upon thousands of folks who can no longer afford to live here.
subdivisions have become bloodbaths, No, this isn’t new. But they used to be able to live within
often terminated before the plans are even commuting distance. First it was Bonita Springs and Estero that
explained. Agitated neighbors fill the meeting rooms blocking all became unaffordable. Now Cape Coral is growing into one of our
conversation. Folks with questions are overwhelmed by staunch nation’s new discoveries.
opponents who have dismissed the possibility of compromise, out Hendry and Charlotte Counties are now in our backyards? 14 Teeth 14 Teeth
of hand. Every day 45,000 of our Collier County workers fill the
How do we equate these two disparate concepts? We urgently roadways commuting to apartments in other counties. Each will
need more affordable housing, yet some among us are unwilling to tolerate these conditions only until a job near home presents itself.
even consider it. How do we ever get out of this hole we’ve dug for Ultimately something will be built on that piece of vacant
ourselves? There are consequences for this behavior and they aren’t land you are fighting to protect. A housing subdivision might be
good. far preferable to a strip mall, gas station and car wash. And you
The term NIMBY (“not in my back yard”) has been around for may regret you didn’t engage that developer in some discussions,
a long time. It describes a condition where reason is replaced by to understand and perhaps obtain changes in whatever he was
28 Teeth 28 Teeth + 1 Implant
recklessness. It denies a property owner’s right to do something originally proposing to build.
- anything - with the valuable land he owns. And it refuses to Living collaboratively in neighborhoods doesn’t mean we all
consider others may be entitled to the same lifestyle as the guy who always get what we want. Nor should the guy or gal who screams Call us today to schedule your complimentary consultation.
happened to get there first, and insists the door should be locked the loudest get to decide how the rest of us will live.
behind him. 239-596-3434
Joe Trachtenberg is chairman of Collier County’s Affordable Housing
Advisory Committee and past board chairman of St Matthew’s House. 7955 Airport Rd. N. Suite 201, Naples, FL 34109
He has been a resident of Naples since 2004.
www.NaplesDentalExcellence.com
These photographs are all unedited, original before and after photographs of patients of Dr. Cheryl L. Malick, DMD.

54 Life in Naples | August, September, October 2022 Life in Naples | August, September, October 2022 55