Washington D.C. Liberals Say NIMBY

The Washington Post reports:

Cliff Valenti is part of a wave of young professionals migrating to a long-tattered stretch of Northwest Washington. Buddy Moore is among the older homeowners who eyed the newcomers warily, fretting that they would price them out.

Now they have found a common cause, one uniting blacks and whites, renters and owners, plumbers and computer experts: stopping construction of a 170-bed homeless shelter on Georgia Avenue.

After work one night, Valenti, 34, traveled from his job as a software developer to join a cluster demonstrating in front of the site on the edge of the Columbia Heights and Petworth neighborhoods, where Central Union Mission plans to relocate.

There were also longtime residents, including a librarian and a school bus monitor, who fumed that the shelter would sink property values and lure more beggars to an ever-more-pricey neighborhood still rife with poverty.

"This transcends age, race and gender," said Moore, a retired bank clerk. "We see it as someone with power and money ramming something down our throats."

Imagine that.