Meet the Proud NIMBY Who Kept Shake Shack Out of Nolita

Today the Post runs a piece on the Nolita NIMBY (Proud NIMBY?), Debra Zimmerman, who was the main force behind the successful community effort to stop the Prince Street Shake Shack from being built (chronicled here). It reveals how she rallied the troops after tweeting she was "in hell", got her message out to the community board, put up scary fliers, etc. etc. The best parts about the piece are really the quotes from both sides of the argument. Says Zimmerman, "I don’t mean to slam Shake Shack, but it’s an upscale McDonald’s. I can’t imagine any other type of restaurant that would be worse.” Another neighbor: "I hate it. It’s such a tourist-rat clusterf - - - ." Yowza.

And here's one unnamed restaurateur's take on the fracas: "Here’s a guy who almost single-handedly brought Union Square Park and Madison Square Park back to life. You couldn’t ask for a better citizen to come to your neighborhood, and they treat him like some sort of criminal dirtbag nightclub drug dealer."
· The woman who killed Shake Shack [NYP]