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News Archive 2006

News Archive 2006 Summaries

Wal-Marts still get Americans worked up
December 10, 2006 Chicago Tribune 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. ...
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The reason the affluent move away
December 7, 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram 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 ...
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A Week’s Worth
December 4, 2006 The Christian Science Monitor 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 ...
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From Nimby* to Banana**–The Challenge for Developers
December 2, 2006 Business Week Online 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: From Nimby* to Banana**--The Challenge for Developers
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Landfills a Tough Sell
November 30, 2006 New York Public Radio 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, ...
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Opposition to Commercial Development Still Strong
November 29, 2006 GlobeSt.com 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 ...
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Americans oppose development of almost every kind
November 29, 2006 Portland Business Journal 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 ...
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Opposition to Land-Use Development More Widespread: Survey
November 29, 2006 Progressive Grocer 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. Opposition to Land-Use Development More Widespread: Survey
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LOOKING IN ON: GAMING
November 27, 2006 Las Vegas Sun 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 ...
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Wal-Mart finds frosty reception
November 21, 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer 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 ...
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Development trends…
November 14, 2006 Michael Pollock's Gaming Industry Observer 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 ...
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Neighborhoods raise a stink over landfill development
November 13, 2006 Crain's Cleveland Business 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 ...
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A tough sell
November 6, 2006 Waste News Overcoming resistance to landfills not getting 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, ...
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Research reveals rising nimbyism among public
March 17, 2006 Planning 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 ...
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Resistance Betrays Failing Of Leadership
March 17, 2006 Planning 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 ...
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Labour voters are the group most likely to oppose a proposed development of new homes
March 17, 2006 The Times 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 ...
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The Buzz: Pop Quiz
March 2006 Affordable Housing Finance 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, ...
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Supermarkets Adopt Political Tactics To Counter Local Opponents
March 11, 2006 Financial Times 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 ...
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Public Opposition?
March 06, 2006 Globe St. Retail 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 ...
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Supporters Speak Up
March 01, 2006 Big Builder 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 ...
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Survey Shows the Public Resents New Development Projects
January 18, 2006 Real Estate Weekly 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. ...
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Stop Right There
January 4, 2006 Wall Street Journal 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 ...
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