There are many people who are not comically wealthy San Franciscans, who have worked their whole lives to live in middle-class communities across America that are being ruined by a sudden focus on density instead of building outward, driven by landowners who "don't give a shit about the people of <insert community name here>" (actual quote from personal experience), enabled by laws and policies that have noble goals but were written in an unthoughtful, easily-exploited way and put in place by partisan bodies.

I'm not trying to downplay the complexity of the situation - I'm just saying that you alienate more people than you think with this common format of sarcastic hatred based on the extreme example of the bay area.

thanks for pointing that out ^_^

I would like to say that, having lived in a city that built very outwards (Houston, Texas), and several denser cities (most notably Paris, France which is very dense), I prefer the quality of life in dense spaces. Being too spread out means that you have massive commutes to be able to get anywhere. Being built up means you can do everything on foot.