"demanding they make it just like the overbuilt sprawl that they came from." Wat!? No they aren't. This city simply can't sprawl. Most actually would like

"demanding they make it just like the overbuilt sprawl that they came from." Wat!? No they aren't. This city simply can't sprawl. Most actually would like to see the city manhattanify, or at least become more like Paris (height limit relative to street width) or Munich (99m in city center so church spires are visible). There are entire parts of SoMa that have a parking lot or a 1-2 story auto body shop when a 6-8 floor apartment building could easily occupy that space. The other problem cities have with new buildings is all the complexities that now exist with mixed use commercial/residential buildings. Back in the day, having a ground floor of stores and apartments above was rarely a problem, but the rise of HOAs/ROAs and the equivalent COA for commercial tenants, buildings often end up in litigation because most developments won't even begin until a certain amount of the commercial occupancy has been sold. This leads to a distorted balance between the COAs and the ROA/HOA that is established later after distorted agreements between the two have been put in place. This imbalance then puts buildings under litigation, hurting real estate values.