I was curious what the City Journal was, so I looked it and the Manhattan Institute up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Institute_for_Policy.... Worthwhile reading for anyone wondering where the original piece is coming from.

Personally, looking over their history, I think their interest in publishing a piece like this is likely rooted in ideological issues rather than actually looking at anything meaningful. (I also think they've been wrong about...very nearly everything they've ever offered a position on, so I'm skeptical about this claim that SF is on the brink of tipping over into a Mad Max set.)

Care to list everything they take a position on and been wrong about?

That's quite a claim.