The Real Estate Industry and environmental protectionism can coexist: builders are finding ways to increase profits while providing ecological benefits to society.

• Author: Rising, Nelson C.
• Position: Ecology

TAKING NIMBYISM (Not in My Back Yard) to new heights, actor/ writer/director Woody Allen recently objected to a new apartment building in his historic New York City neighborhood by making fun of the developer's alleged "compromise" proposal. In public testimony, he likened the protracted negotiations over approval of a higher-density residential project to negotiations over how far to go in desecrating a great work of art, stating:

"If one was to take a genuine work of art, a painting, a Van Gogh for example; a vase with some sunflowers in it, and developers came along and said `Look, this has been great for years, but progress is progress, and we would like to add a half-dozen sunflowers to this picture and we'll make them consistent with the sunflowers that are already there. But you know, we feel it would beautify and it's in the name of progress and development' and they go before the equivalent of the landmarks commission, but in the field of art, and, in the spirit of compromise, they say, `Well, we won't give you six. We'll give you three sunflowers,' the point is obvious. The whole thing is mined."

Apart from the fact that they are extremely funny (even to someone like myself, who has been fighting for the approval of new buildings and places for most of his life), Allen's comments illuminate the tension inherent in the building approval process. All too often, one person's "progress" is another's desecration. At the same time, the testimony effectively highlights the concept of a false "compromise"--one that simply results in less of a loss to the impacted community and its revered resources, whether natural or, in this case, historic.

In my view, the struggle to advance environmental and economic development goals simultaneously is a core corporate responsibility. Nowhere is this perhaps more true than for leaders of the real estate industry. This dual focus on economic considerations and environmental sensitivity is one of the most crucial elements of any sound national policy regarding environmental protection. Why do I care about this? As the CEO of one of the largest owners of developable land in the country, I am very familiar with a full range of environmental issues and associated laws, regulations, and agencies, whether at the municipal, state, or Federal level.

The battery of stringent Federal restrictions on real estate activities have the laws' critics, of course, especially regarding their often unintended...