Giving Compass' Take:

• Nolan Gray reports that in some cities, residents have successfully blocked the construction of emergency coronavirus sites including quarantine and testing facilities.  

• Are you ready to invite emergency coronavirus response units into your "backyard"? Can you work to build support for these sites in your network and the community at large? 

• Learn more about the need for temporary COVID hospitals. 

Last week, residents in Darien, Connecticut, a tony exurb of New York City, successfully lobbied to shut down plans for a coronavirus testing site, despite surging demand. The reason? Complaints from neighbors. As it turns out, the “Not In My Backyard” impulse to block new development — which has been implicated in the severe affordability crisis affecting cities from coast to coast — translates far too neatly into blocking certain measures needed to stop the spread of the virus.

In a similar case in Ewing, New Jersey, a local landlord issued a cease-and-desist letter to the operator of a coronavirus testing center amid complaints about congestion in the parking lot. As The Trentonian reported, one resident who wanted to be tested in order to protect his three-year-old child wasn’t subtle about how he felt about the decision: “It blows my f**king mind.”

Community resistance from neighbors of testing sites is a rerun of the fierce NIMBY reaction to potential coronavirus quarantine sites. Back in February, California began looking for a place to shelter Americans returning from abroad with the virus and settled on an isolated medical campus in Costa Mesa. But after local residents complained, city officials sought and received a court injunction to stop the project.

Not every city is sitting on its hands. In February, Raleigh, North Carolina, scrapped its neighborhood councils, which had become a hotbed for housing NIMBYism, in favor of a more systematic approach to public outreach. And in Seattle, policymakers are working to transform similar local councils from angry choke points into productive forums. More cities should consider this approach, specifically as they respond to the outbreak.

Read the full article about blocking emergency coronavirus response sites by Nolan Gray at CityLab.