...and into tall, beautiful apartment buildings in walkable neighborhoods with excellent transit connections, so we can all live here together.
Also, I don't think I've ever seen an affordable apartment highrise in a major city. Think those new and shiny skyscrapers will be able to compete with rent-controlled housing? What's actually going to happen is that the longtime residents are going to get pushed out into the outskirts while the Silicon Valley rich fill out the city.
See, I think the soul of San Francisco actually comes from its people.
Given a choice between preserving buildings or saving people from displacement, I think the latter does more to preserve the essence of the city.
Entrenched interests != longstanding residents. There is some overlap though.
Think of it like the people from Los Altos Hill passing laws effectively banning poor people: the minimum lot size is 1 acre, and all lost can only have on family living in them.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but that seems like a pretty gross sentiment. "I hope a natural disaster gets these old people out of their homes so me and my hip friends can move into our favorite city." I know you probably didn't mean it that way, but I feel like I see a lot of similar animosity towards the longstanding residents (or as you put it, "entrenched interests") of SF.