Entertainer Dave Chappelle has recently gotten very involved in his community, though potentially in a way that will draw quite a bit of controversy.
The village in which he lives, Yellow Springs, Ohio, had a proposed housing development that would include a portion of affordable housing. Chappelle, along with other residents, greatly opposed it, with Chappelle serving a threat were they to go through with it.
But it will have to proceed without the initially promised affordable housing components, as voted against by city council.
An unusual hand had a major role in this decision, though.
He threatened to pull his business interests out of the village if the affordable housing portion of the development were to pass. His plans included opening a restaurant called Firehouse Eatery and a comedy club called Live from YS.
“I am not bluffing,” he said in a video recording of the meeting after acknowledging that he'd spoken to city council in private about this already. “I will take it all off the table.”
After airing his grievances regarding why they're considering this project at all, he says, "I cannot believe you would make me audition for you. You look like clowns."
He wasn't the only citizen against the development. Worries included traffic flow and potential issues with water management.
The initial zoning plans were for a 53-acre area that would include 52 duplexes, 64 single-family homes, and 24 townhomes with an additional 1.75 acres to be donated to the community for affordable housing to be built later.
That 53-acre lot will now only contain single-family homes, 143 of them to be exact, each starting at around $300,000. This was the initial approved plan before Yellow Springs worked with Oberer Homes, the development company, to include affordable housing options.
Many have taken to calling Chappelle a NIMBY, which stands for Not In My Back Yard, a term for people who may generally approve of something like affordable housing, but don't want it too close to them specifically.
The critics are flooding in with this new move on Chappelle's behalf, but with a development still being built, only time will tell where it will land the village economically and whether or not the comedian's new businesses will go on to open.
h/t: Dayton Daily News
