[kamjam]

I had this same discussion with an ex-colleague and he pointed out that if you managed to drive away all the lower paid workers, then who would clean your streets, stock your supermarket shelves, put our your fires and catch those criminals? He made a very good point.

[potatolicious]

In old east coast cities the low-pay workers will simply live farther away and endure shitty commutes.

In the Bay Area this isn't possible, since NIMBYs have fought against every and any transit project, and caused the neglect of existing mass transit. Housing is expensive from SF all the way south - where exactly would these people commute in from? You can't even get from downtown into the Outer Sunset in an hour during commute hours, where do you think your baristas are going to come from?

The SF Bay is one of the most thorough and complete failures of government and infrastructure I've witnessed first-hand.