Minneapolis enjoys the best combination of affordability, good jobs, and nice stuff. Why? Regional sharing of costs and responsibilities since the 1970s. Wealthy suburbs don't get to keep all of their goodies to themselves while forcing burdens like affordable housing onto poorer communities. The Bay Area desperately needs something like this...

Part of the Bay Area's challenge is where to build more affordable housing.

Minneapolis can expand in any direction it wants.

Still, good article. Thought provoking.

Believe it or not, the Bay Area still has room to expand. That room is almost certainly not in Palo Alto. It might be somewhere in downtown San Jose or the East Bay or Oakland. The issue is whether the citizens of Palo Alto have any obligation to contribute to things like homeless services, decent affordable housing, and public transit for service workers anywhere within commuting distance, or whether it's cool for them to forever stick their heads in the sand and chant "There's no room in Palo Alto! There's no room in Palo Alto!"

That is a very good point. 

The Bay Area is structured poorly -- every town exists in isolation so it's challenging to find a way to get Palo Alto to contribute toward the benefit of the whole Bay Area.