Hardly a new phenomenon in this boom town, battles of growth and gentrification in San Francisco pit urbanists against NIMBY’s, economic diversity against the threat of exclusivity, nativists against scapegoats. Kim-Mai Cutler writes a long but comprehensive and objective study of housing in San Francisco in TechCrunch and explains of why the region is struggling to manage its good fortune without losing its identity. This is an extraordinary time to live and work in San Francisco. We are in a position to find intelligent ways to plan for growth that not just preserves but enhances the beauty and function of this city.

The Santa Clara Valley was some of the most valuable agricultural land in the entire world, but it was paved over to create today’s Silicon Valley. This was simply the result of bad planning and layers of leadership failure — nobody thinks farms literally needed to be destroyed to create the technology industry’s success.

Today, the tech industry is apparently on track to destroy one of the world’s most valuable cultural treasures, San Francisco, by pushing out the diverse people who have helped create it. At least that’s the story you’ve read in hundreds of articles lately. [read the full article]