That was a lot of text to complain about the term NIMBY while I could've just as well said "oppose" without any change in meaning.

I think opposing change to preserve the status quo happens to be more valid in most cases.

Fair enough, you're a conservative. Others err in the other direction and want change for change's sake. Some people like to preserve, some like to innovate. In both scenarios, we should add the word "good" to make it a sensible position.

And there's a very specific developmental scenario I painted, and that is to put a tram line into the suburb together with some medium-density development so the station and line has enough people living there to actually see use, see at least a tram each direction every 20 minutes during the day, every 60 or so in the night.

One other alternative? Let me paint a nightmare scenario for you (or rather your wallet): New federal regulations forbid subsidising low density zones with the land taxes from high density zones, from now on you'll have to pay for your own sewage system, streets, electricity lines, etc, the inner city isn't footing the bill any more. Your land tax is suddenly 3-5x higher, if renting, no the landlord isn't going to cover it for you. Tons and tons of people get priced out. Alternatively, your infrastructure rots until it is gone.

Which of those scenarios is a good one, which a bad one? All are changes from the status quo, which, as I said, is suburbia getting subsidised -- a bad scenario, at least in my book, especially given that suburbanites don't exactly tend to be poor.

Last, but not least: Mixed medium-density development is the conservative option. It's how cities have been built for millennia. Suburbia is an invention of post-war North America, driven by car manufactures and redlining. The most expensive places in North America are places old enough to still have that mixed medium-density structure (google "streetcar suburb"), which is the norm everywhere else in the world.