> The answer to every housing problem is not build more density. Sorry, the valley was built as a suburban sprawl and you have generations of families on parcels as well as recently purchased.

Sorry the answer to every housing crisis is build more housing your attitude is the exact reason why housing is so expensive in the bay area. I mean you could try to reduce demand but good luck with that, and if you can't reduce demand you have to increase supply.

Your perspective as a native and long-term resident is of some interest, but it doesn't mean you automatically understand the economics of the situation.

I don't think anyone imagines that the needed changes are going to be politically easy. But as long as more and more people want to live here -- a trend that shows no sign of slowing down -- our only choices are to bulid more housing or tolerate ever-higher housing costs. There is no third option.

I'm a native of San Francisco, a lifelong resident. But I'm also a millennial raised with both a conservative concern for the long term and an optimism for the future via science. And the big story is that the suburbs are unsustainable in every way.

Preserving neighborhood character feels nice, but life is change. Preventing old houses from being torn down does not prevent old residents from leaving. You want preservation, then you better be prepared to pay for it. But the middle class suburbs, all those miles of pipes and miles of roads and miles of wires, are fundamentally insolvent. Even before you consider Proposition 13.

http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2011/10/10/suburban-salva...

Silicon Valley is not built out. Silicon Valley needs to be torn down and replaced.