Don't forget that these are enforced by continual lawsuits. Neighbors sue each other for violating HOA regulations in my neighborhood. Don't even try to change the roofline on your crappy-looking 50s stucco house.

If what everyone actually fights for is a conservation approach to the legacy housing market, is it really any surprise that we get a conservation approach to it? The sad thing is that the city otherwise has good policies, but housing is a morass of entrenched self interest.