In Cramped and Costly Bay Area, Cries to Build, Baby, Build
The Times selected as an &quot;NYTimes Pick&quot; a comment from someone in Berlin who absolutely makes my blood boil.<p>(S)he starts off by stating privilege as a 5th-generation San Franciscan (obviously, the kind who DESERVE to live in the city), and who fled in the tech boom of the 90s. The usual rant about whitewashing and yuppies and artists being pushed out ensues. Of course they don&#x27;t want more housing built, because then dirty artists from other places would move in -- you need to preserve the history of San Francisco&#x27;s starving artists, and never let new culture of any kind in.<p>Except (s)he says, okay, maybe some &quot;affordable&quot; housing should be built. No discussion on the endless problems of how to manage the waiting list for this &quot;bucket&quot; of housing, or what happens when those people become too successful.<p>And, in the end, (s)he has moved to Berlin, a city almost TWICE as dense as San Francisco. No doubt some NIMBY in Berlin at some point whined about building more housing for these &quot;outsiders&quot;, but I&#x27;m sure (s)he does not have the critical thinking necessary to recognize that such a special flower could be the same force in Berlin that (s)he whines about happening to San Francisco.