[epicureanideal]

I think there's a difference though between "a small town that has very little in the way of services because the population won't support it or the people who live there don't earn enough to support nice amenities" becoming more prosperous, and a town where nice amenities are already possible, but building is prevented as people move in so prices get driven up without (as much as would be natural) corresponding increase in amenities.

That's not to say that nice amenities are what everyone wants. Some people want to keep the character of their small towns no matter what. But in the former case there's a loss of small-town-ness for amenities that theoretically benefit everyone, whereas in the latter case it's purely an extraction of money from the young to the old.