The hope implicit in this conversation is that founders and funders might hear the disgruntlement of the engineers, and send some of their money and efforts to other cities, to do a little to grow an ecosystem elsewhere. It's a vain hope dependent on deaf ears, as much as the "build, baby, build!" plea to zoning boards or "stop grifting your tenants" to landlords, but it still needs to be made. Someone's gotta give, and it can't just always be the tech workers and aspirant homebuyers and renters and all those with less power in these asymmetrical relationships.

I totally agree with this sentiment. This is what I am debating now. I do think that San Fran area can do better by at least making the surrounding areas AMAZING rather than trying to make San Francisco proper happen now. I think working around the initial problem could end up having a positive effect on San Francisco proper. Smaller towns and suburbs should be easier to upgrade than a larger one.