What the mayor actually said about Palo Alto:

  - "It's become a monoculture," Burt says.
  - the city's role as a tech incubator is in danger.
  - Large employers like Palantir Technologies, the secretive private software firm, and Amazon, have taken over

He wants to force tech companies to move out when they get too big. It's hard for startups to get office space when large corporations can easily out-bid them.

Talking about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

If you think about it, companies coming to Palo Alto increase housing value, which increases property taxes, which leads to Palo Alto being a nice place.

Plenty of cities would love this "problem".

They come to Palo Alto because of the startup culture, which is diminishing. As the Merc article says, not everything is about maximizing profit.

This headline and story is misleading. The talk is about limiting company size so startups can return/thrive again. Here is a more balanced article: http://www.mercurynews.com/michelle-quinn/ci_30313704/palo-a...

Maybe Palo Alto wants to change the side of the road you should drive on at the same time.