Two North Shore suburbs in recent days have taken tentative — but important — stances against NIMBYism and in favor of opening their doors wider to more middle-income residents.

We speak of Highland Park and Evanston.

The Highland Park City Council on Oct. 30 gave a preliminary thumbs up to Chicago developer Habitat Co.’s plan to build more than 200 townhomes on a 28-acre vacant tract that for decades was the site of a Solo Cup factory. In so doing, the council rejected arguments from opponents that the development would unacceptably exacerbate traffic congestion even if its unanimous vote in favor masked a long debate over the plan’s particulars, the Lake County News-Sun reported .

But one council member, Jon Center, captured what we believe usually is at the heart of objections to b

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