The key differences between Paris and SF in this regard are: 1. In Paris, nobody has a chip on their shoulder about a nearby larger city. In SF, sour grapes ab

The key differences between Paris and SF in this regard are: 1. In Paris, nobody has a chip on their shoulder about a nearby larger city. In SF, sour grapes about all the attention NY and LA get led long ago to our population pretending they don't want to be a big city. (Even though now it's actually within our reach) 2. In SF, a large number of people drive everywhere but live in garageless houses -- or they have single-car garages but own multiple cars. They resist building because they don't want to compete for existing parking spaces. 3. SF lacks a decent underground train system, so anything that puts more cars on the road is hotly resisted, and people believe that a garageless building next to a train station will be filled with new car owners.