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Re:Forest kindergarten by nkrisc on Saturday July 06, 2019 @11:31PM (#20373427)
There's one near where I used to live in Chicago. They use a local Forest preserve. Strangely there is a contigent of neighbors who continually try to get the whole thing shutdown because they don't think young kids should be outside like that all the time. They try to complain and say they leave garbage or are noisy or other invented complaints. From what I understand, what they're really upset about is that they can't let their dogs run around off the leash with little kids around all the time.
Re:Forest kindergarten by dmix on Sunday July 07, 2019 @03:10AM (#20373927)
Those small groups with a bit of power like NIMBY activists are the worst. You see it on Facebook groups for buildings too, they range from over-protective types who are scared of the city/outside to fully invented hypothetical problems any time something is "different" happens.

I've always wondered what these people get out of it.

Re:Forest kindergarten by 9nGQluzmnq3M on Sunday July 07, 2019 @06:51AM (#20374507)
A neighborhood I lived in had a virulent social media & flyers campaign against a planned "24/7 commercial facility" (the ads never said what it was) that would cause gridlock, lower property prices and generally bring on the Apocalypse.

Turns out said facility was a small privately run aged-care home (the horror!), and the campaign was largely bankrolled by some local developers who would much have preferred to turn the waterfront lot in question into condos.

Re:Forest kindergarten by Sharlin on Sunday July 07, 2019 @04:24AM (#20374114)
In their own narrative, of course, they're just good people trying to protect children/live their live in peace/etc.
Re:Forest kindergarten by TomMarius on Sunday July 07, 2019 @08:10AM (#20374720)
Yeah but freedom is about tolerating what you don't like because it's none of your concern. I don't understand how the "land of the free" could favour a small group so much. It's unthinkable in my post-socialist country.
Re:Forest kindergarten by Sharlin on Sunday July 07, 2019 @11:00AM (#20375409)
"Land of the free" is propaganda, plain and simple.
Re:Forest kindergarten by dang on Sunday July 07, 2019 @04:36PM (#20377678)
Maybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to HN.
Re:Forest kindergarten by sephlietz on Sunday July 07, 2019 @12:05AM (#20373497)
If you're talking about the one at the North Park Village Nature Center, it looks like they were already shut down. :( https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/06/20/preschool-program-ki...
Re:Forest kindergarten by jacobolus on Sunday July 07, 2019 @02:34AM (#20373843)
The complaint is seriously that there is “unstructured play” happening? Heaven forefend!
Re:Forest kindergarten by nkrisc on Monday July 08, 2019 @10:38AM (#20383081)
That is the one and it makes me very sad, I hadn't realized they'd been shutdown.
Re:Forest kindergarten by foxyv on Monday July 08, 2019 @01:43PM (#20384935)
A lot of these NIMBY campaigns are a veneer for plain old corruption. Don't want your competition getting into your territory? Use a home owner association or a city council seat that you or a friend are a part of to obstruct them. That small business is owned by someone outside your church? Well they aren't getting a liquor license for their convenience store.

Often there is some underlying motive coming from bigotry or greed. However there is always the person with too much time on their hands who gets a kick out of having power over others.