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The people who found it a nice place to live when it was undeveloped thought it was so nice that they decided to build a university with a huge endowment nearby

The people who found it a nice place to live when it was undeveloped thought it was so nice that they decided to build a university with a huge endowment nearby which then decided to attract funding from the Department of Defense which then... You’re trying to express your preferences for lower home values with an all else equal argument which is not very meaningful in a dynamic system. The realistic alternatives where fewer people want to settle in the Bay Area all involve hypotheticals where it is simply a less attractive place to live in ways that likely impact you as well.

lisper 6y ago
Yes, they did all those things. They also set aside large parcels of open space, so that only half the surrounding area became a suburban hellhole. In between the wilderness and Hoboken NJ there is a broad range of possibilities. Somewhere in between those two extremes is a nice middle-ground where things are not too sparse and not too crowded. The San Francisco peninsula has been close to that happy medium for a long time, so I'm pretty sure it could stand to lose a few people and still stay in the desirable range. Yes, density has all kinds of societal benefits. The problem is, not everyone wants to live that way.