Well. Maybe I would like to live in the center of Manhattan. That doesn’t mean that it’s the city’s responsibility to make that happen.

The very least they could do is not actively try and prevent it though. Which is exactly what places like Palo Alto do.

Why? Why shouldn’t residents be able to decide the living characteristics of their own city?

There is plenty of land in the US. If prices are too high to afford to live there, residents will start moving and businesses move with them or vice versa. More businesses will start expanding to lower cost of living areas.

Some people, including myself, think that it's reasonable for the residents of Palo Alto to have more say over the local policies and goings-on in the town than non-residents.

There's acres and acres of completely undeveloped land in Stanford. Why do they get a pass?

And they continue to build a disproportionate amount of square footage that is not housing, worsening the housing shortage in the area.