December 10, 2006 Chicago Tribune
Wal-Marts still get Americans worked up
I'm having a garage sale on top of my desk. Here's what I think I need to get rid of:
Big boxes are great--over there
The NIMBY concept ("Not in my back yard") as it pertains to development has been around a long time; now a political consultant for developers has quantified it. That is: About three-quarters of Americans don't want any new development in their own communities, though the projects they oppose (landfills, quarries, power plants and Wal-Marts, for example) probably would be OK somewhere else.
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December 7, 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The reason the affluent move away
It's a common enough scenario: A family moves to Arlington, works, prospers, prospers some more, and then just as Mom and Dad start making really serious money, they move to an upscale municipality somewhere else.
In short, they bail out on the very entity that provided an environment in which they became wealthy. How ungracious. And ungrateful.
This is not just anecdotal. According to census studies, since 2000 Arlington has had a net loss of about 21,000 mostly upscale Anglos and about 1,000 mostly upscale Asians. That's white flight and Asian flight.
December 4, 2006 The Christian Science Monitor
A Week's Worth
For the first time in four months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost ground in consecutive weeks, dropping 0.7 percent as of Friday's close.
If there's a class of people more unpopular than politicians or used-car salesmen, it may be real estate developers, the Saint Consulting Group reports. Its survey found twice as many Americans oppose new development projects as favor them, especially in the case of big-box stores, power plants, and casinos. Seventy percent of respondents said they support using tax revenues to keep land undeveloped.
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December 2, 2006 Business Week Online
From Nimby* to Banana**--The Challenge for Developers
Opposition to development of single-family homes and condominiums decreased a bit in the latest survey of residents' attitudes by Boston-based Saint Consulting Group. Here's a long excerpt from its press release about the Saint Index:
November 30, 2006 New York Public Radio
Landfills a Tough Sell
Landfills have always been a tough sell for sanitation officials and garbage companies. And a new survey of Americans’ attitudes toward development has found it’s getting even harder, not only for landfills, but for most development projects.
The second annual Saint Index, by the Saint Consulting Group, found landfills were opposed by 87 percent, up from 82 percent last year, beating casinos, power plants, and yes, even Wal Mart as Americans’ most despised land use project.
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November 29, 2006 Progressive Grocer
Opposition to Land-Use Development More Widespread: Survey
BOSTON - A growing number of Americans are strongly opposed to real estate development, although attitudes toward grocery development have softened some in the past year, according to the Saint Index, a survey commissioned by The Saint Consulting Group here.
November 29, 2006 Portland Business Journal
Americans oppose development of almost every kind
Most Americans oppose new landfills, power plants and quarries. They also oppose casinos, Wal-Marts, hospitals, apartments, single family development and 70 percent would use tax dollars to prevent land from being developed.
So says the second annual Saint Index, a survey commissioned by The Saint Consulting Group, which is based in Boston, to gage the public's interest in land-use issues.
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November 29, 2006 GlobeSt.com
Opposition to Commercial Development Still Strong
BOSTON-Americans are strongly opposed to commercial development projects, and a majority of them favor using tax dollars to keep land undeveloped, a new survey finds. According to the Saint Index, a survey of 1,000 Americans commissioned by the Hingham, MA-based Saint Consulting Group, nearly three quarters of the respondents said they are opposed to development in their own community and twice as many Americans actively oppose development as support it.
“It’s becoming a significant issue,” Saint president Patrick Fox tells GlobeSt.com. “Americans are looking for ways to stop development.”
November 27, 2006 Las Vegas Sun
LOOKING IN ON: GAMING
Would you rather live next to a landfill, a casino or Wal-Mart?
The American Gaming Association and Harrah's Entertainment have trotted out independent surveys over the past several years showing that most Americans don't object to gambling. While that may be true, it doesn't mean all of those folks want casinos nearby.
That's the finding of a recent poll, and it comes as no surprise to casino companies that have had to overcome neighborhood opposition to casinos that, in some cases, were already approved by legislators or voters.
The poll, conducted by Saint Consulting, a Massachusetts firm that helps clients win land-use battles, found that 80 percent of Americans would oppose a casino proposed in their community.
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November 21, 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer
Wal-Mart finds frosty reception
While knocking on more than 2,000 doors during his campaign for Berlin Borough Council this fall, Stephen Clyde encountered one question over and over.
It wasn't about property taxes or immigration or gay marriage.
Voters wanted to know: What was his position on Wal-Mart?
"Wal-Mart acted as a catalyst to ignite people's passion," said Clyde, a Democrat who ousted a Republican incumbent. He attributes his victory, in part, to his vocal stance against the company's plan to put a 217,062-square-foot super center in the Camden County borough.
November 14, 2006 Michael Pollock's Gaming Industry Observer
Development trends...
NIMBY MOVEMENT PLACES CASINOS AT TROUBLING END OF SCALE; STARTING WITH BIG HANDICAP
Editor’s Note: Casinos are widely heralded as generators of prodigious employment. Of considerably lesser repute is the heat that casinos generate in the development stage. As the chart above shows, the public sees only landfill development in a worse light. The poll that generated this data was conducted by Saint Consulting, a Hingham, Mass., firm that specializes in winning zoning and land-use battles. Chairman/CEO P. Michael Saint and Vice Chairman Robert J. Flavell analyze the casino-land use issue below; they will also deliver a special presentation on this issue at our 3rd annual Pennsylvania Gaming Congress in March.
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November 13, 2006 Crain's Cleveland Business
Neighborhoods raise a stink over landfill development
Americans oppose landfill development even more than casinos in their neighborhoods.
Not by much, but still, that's some serious opposition.
Indeed, more Americans would rather see a power plant or quarry down the street than a landfill.
Even Wal-Mart, which routinely faces development battles in various parts of the country, is opposed by far fewer residents, according to research by Saint Consulting Group Inc.
November 6, 2006 Waste News
A tough sell
Overcoming resistance to landfills notgetting easier, survey shows
Americans oppose landfill development even more than casinos in their neighborhoods.
Not by much, but still, that’s some serious opposition.
In fact, more Americans would rather see a power plant or quarry down the street than a landfill.
Even Wal-Mart, which routinely faces development battles in various parts of the country is opposed by far fewer residents, according to research by the Saint Consulting Group Inc.
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March 17, 2006 The Times
Labour voters are the group most likely to oppose a proposed development of new homes
NIMBYISM is becoming a trait that binds the British, a national characteristic that defines us in the same way that queuing used to do.
Most of us (84 per cent, to be precise) take a nimby (not in my back yard) and, indeed, a nimfye (not in my front yard either) view of any new development in our neighbourhood. One in five of us has opposed a planning application, maintaining the great British tradition of complaining. New homes are the most common target of such opposition, particularly if these homes are flats. Aesthetics are less of an issue than the impact on traffic.
March 17, 2006 Planning
Resistance Betrays Failing Of Leadership
Next time anybody feels like moaning about planners or the planning system, they should glance at the results of this week's poll by the Saint Consulting Group. If the findings are anywhere near true - and anybody with experience at the front line will probably agree that they are - then the UK's anti-development ethos is alive and kicking.
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March 17, 2006 Planning
Research reveals rising nimbyism among public
The overwhelming majority of the population is opposed to any development in their area, according to a survey published this week.
The poll by the Saint Consulting Group, a company of planning and political lobbyists, reveals that 84 per cent of respondents feel their neighbourhood is 'already overdeveloped or is just fine the way it is and should be left alone'.
March 11, 2006 Financial Times
Supermarkets Adopt Political Tactics To Counter Local Opponents
Supermarkets and property developers have borrowed techniques from political campaigning for their battles against people trying to block their plans.
Planning issues were at the centre of the Office of Fair Trading's announcement this week that it was threatening Tesco and other supermarkets with a full-scale Competition Commission investigation.
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March 06, 2006 Globe St. Retail
Public Opposition?
High-end retailers who want to bring their stores into the upscale neighborhoods where their customers live will find to their dismay that these same affluent consumers are among the demographic groups most likely to oppose such development.
For the past two dozen years, my company has been addressing the politics of land use. We have worked on hundreds of contentious battles over real estate projects. Realizing that on one had ever assessed the scale of this problem, we commissioned a study involving 1,000 participants across the US to understand how—and to what degree—these issues were affecting our local communities. The study revealed clear trends in attitudes towards retail development.
March 01, 2006 Big Builder
Supporters Speak Up
STUDY SHOWS THAT NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS ARE RELATIVELY UNCONTESTED.
Thumbs up: Housing gets a free pass according to new study finding, says Patrick Fox, president of Saint Consulting Group.
Surveyors used a standard clustering methodology known as random digit dialing, interviewing 250 people in each of four regions—Northeast, Midwest, West, and South.
In contrast to housing’s surprising support, backers for commercial development of almost any kind were scarce. People are twice as likely to resist offices, big-box retails, and warehouses, the study found. And in what Fox calls “a staggering number,” one in five of the people surveyed nationwide has actively opposed a project in their backyards.
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March 2006 Affordable Housing Finance
The Buzz: Pop Quiz
Americans are twice as likely to oppose new real estate developments than support them, according to The Saint Index, a measure of politics and land development.
Not only is opposition widespread, it’s getting more sophisticated, reveals the index, which was conducted for The Saint Consulting Group, a Hingham, Mass.-based firm that specializes in fighting land-use battles.
January 18, 2006 Real Estate Weekly
Survey Shows the Public Resents New Development Projects
Americans are twice as likely to oppose new real estate development projects as support them. They are more likely to oppose quarries, casinos, land-fills and big-box retail than single family homes and groceries. They say their opposition stems from concerns over traffic and quality of life issue. They will use the political process to protect their neighborhoods from unwanted development—and virtually all development is unwanted.
January 4, 2006 Wall Street Journal
Stop Right There
Landfills, casinos and power plants are the most unpopular types of development in the U.S., according to a recent survey conducted by the Center for Economic and Civic Opinion at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
The first-time survey, commissioned by the Hingham, Mass.-based Saint Consulting Group, which advises developers on local political issues, asked about 1,000 people around the country for their opinions on development and developers.
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