Cities change...it’s the longing for days past that created the housing crisis in SF in the name of preservation.

I’m not familiar with the exact building restrictions in West Village but I assume there’s strict height restrictions that have been grandfathered in long ago...I’m going to guess these restrictions is the exact reason why the ultra wealthy can just buy up a small building and make it into a SFH, which obviously just exacerbates the housing problems in the neighborhood.

The story touched on this a bit but also seems like every time I visit half the stores are either closed or new because rents are so high for businesses. The only stores that I see have staying power are the ones that look like obvious money laundering fronts like jewelry stores. It’s this strange ghost town for retail.