Home prices in the bay area have skyrocketed 10 to 15 times beyond the rate of inflation over the past 30 years. This has pushed the renters who used to live t

Home prices in the bay area have skyrocketed 10 to 15 times beyond the rate of inflation over the past 30 years. This has pushed the renters who used to live there further and further out, or forced their standard of living ever further downward. I disagree with the idea that existing homeowners have some right prevent developers from building tall housing nearby on PRIVATE property. You own your land, I own mine, and as long as I'm not doing anything toxic, your rights do not extend into my space. These anti-development policies force people to live far away from their workplace, turning most of the bay area into a massive wasteland of highways and parking lots. A few incredibly lucky and selfish people can deny the right of the many to have the dignity of affordable housing, but it is not just. It is shameful. As an aside, despite artificially enforced low-density, Berkeley and Palo Alto have depressingly few vibrant public spaces. Sure there's trees along the street, but most of the parks are just little tiny bits of grass and a few scraggly trees sandwiched between two or three active roads. You'd think low density might include huge open parks, but no, it is mostly just big houses with private yards and lots of parking lots to deal with how far apart everything is. Contrast: In Tokyo, since there is almost nothing preventing you from doing whatever you like with your own land, there is a wide mix of different housing to choose from, at all different price-points. I can afford to live smack in the middle of everything, near the biggest park and shopping area, also a few minutes walk from a major train station. I also have a spectacular view that goes all the way to the horizon for about 160 degress.