[jwagenet]

We've been creating new "towns" in the form of subdivisions and planned communities for the better part of a century. They are fine for a generation or two, but the astronomical costs of maintaining their government subsidized services (utilities, sewer, roads, schools, fire, police) stretched thin into a low density area inevitably leads to their decline.

[TimPC]

The costs of suburbs aren’t astronomical in the Bay Area. There is a reason Strong Towns and the like always talk about suburbs in Missouri. The suburbs that are unaffordable are the $150K home owned by the household making $40k/year. You can’t charge that person the $8k in property tax you need to upkeep a suburb. Charging $8k on a $2 million home in the Bay Area is a lot more doable. It’s a 0.4% property tax rate which should be achievable. The only barrier to Bay Area suburbs paying for things is California’s neo-feudal property tax laws.