People like and have huge investments in their low-density, car addicted lifestyles. But only one had the temerity to stand up and address it publicly. All cities are designed to create urban sprawl. At least someone was willing to tell the truth about it, because he is exactly correct that our current approach to development has been to create urban sprawl. This dynamic is what has pushed the county to the lead the nation in the number of threatened and endangered species.
People push out and nature and farmlands lose.
Habitat is destroyed, pollution outputs and demands on the watershed increase. If you want hi-tech jobs, certain resources are necessary. As you think about land use, you need to think about what housing and services this kind of worker is looking for. San Diego is competing with Portland, Seattle, Austin Texas and Denver for people capital, and these other cities think that way about their land use and planning. But council members understandably protect their districts from growth without the infrastructure to support it.