The Chicago NIMBY – why not in my backyard?

What defines a NIMBY? Is being a NIMBY such a bad thing? Is the accusation of NIMBYism a way to stifle debate on things by telling someone that self-interest is the worst kind of sin you can commit? Do people sometimes accuse others of NIMBYism when they really are not necessarily just acting in self-interest, but in the interests of a number of community members? Comments are closed here but weigh in at our forum. Here is a better link to that forum.
Yo’s truly read an interesting column in the Chicago Journal recently where the author accused the critics of Burnham Pointe of having blatant self-interest and being shameless NIMBYs, but argued that sometimes the NIMBY card is played to unfairly stifle opposition to a development. See Yo over at the forum.