It's deja news at iffy 'Mews'

Middle-class residents fear a proposal to put subsidized apartments for struggling workers in their midst will wreck their neighborhood, depressing home values and inviting crime.

They rise up in protest, demanding a public hearing, if not outright cancellation of the project.

Charges of duplicity collide with counterclaims of snobbery.

But not 2008 in Raleigh's historic Glenwood-Brooklyn neighborhood -- 1994 in North Raleigh.

That's when a proposal to build a 50-unit affordable-housing apartment complex off Litchford Road for low- to moderate-income workers touched off a firestorm in adjacent North Ridge.

Told that the subsidized apartments would be privately managed, not low-rent public housing, one neighbor shot back: "That's like choosing between the gas chamber and the electric chair."

Now there's a similar uproar over George's Mews, a 26-unit apartment building a local nonprofit agency wants to turn into a mix of rent-controlled apartments and housing for the disabled.

The new plan is opposed by some residents, who argue that it would slow their charming neighborhood's revitalization, reduce property values and increase crime.

"It's going to be a stopping block for this community," one unhappy neighbor asserted.

"It goes contrary to the whole neighborhood," another said.

Yet others say there's already too much subsidized housing thereabouts because CASA runs a quadruplex a block away.

"There are plenty of places in Southeast Raleigh" that could host it, another neighbor said.

But Southeast Raleigh already has scads of low-rent housing. That's the very reason for the city's scattered-site policy.

The opponents make a good argument, however, that the city or the housing agency should have notified them of the proposal and invited public input sooner.

Because the request doesn't involve a rezoning, no public hearing is required under city rules.

If every housing project required a hearing, proponents say, that could invite fatal NIMBYism.

But the "not in my back yard" reaction is only human nature. Once word of such a project gets out, as it almost always does, NIMBY is bound to arise.

It's entirely reasonable to want to protect your family's investment. The question is whether your fears are justified. Often they're not.

Instead of hoping to avoid neighbors' concerns, proponents should address them forthrightly.

Better to bring issues out early to allow an open and full debate. If the project in question is justified, make that case plainly.

"We often have this kind of initial response," said Debra King, CASA's executive director. "And then people come around."

That came true at The Arbors, where tenants in a community watch keep an eye on visitors.

You can hardly see it now for all the upscale housing that has since sprung up nearby, and the Raleigh Vineyard church out front.

Imagine that.

EDITOR