| > After all its the supply constraints that have made existing residents rich, why would they want to fix the area's housing problem all by themselves? I hear this argument a lot, but I’m not sure I buy the financial angle. If MV became Tokyo, the land alone in which a single-family home sits would be worth vastly more than it is today. I legitimately think that they want to continue to live in a detached house with a yard, in a low-density neighborhood, like they have for a long time (or recently bought into). The ones who have been there for decades don’t feel the increased prices (thanks to prop 13) and the ones who recently moved in are clearly wealthy enough. Is it that hard to believe that people just don’t want their neighborhoods to change? I think once we acknowledge that, we can work to preserve that neighborhood feel without dismissing that desire as being a disguised financial interest. |