Thank you for your piece.  I wish the responses weren't so snarky and mean.  Why is it we think we cannot guide our city to be what is best about cities?   I've lived in 2 other great American cities and that's what was so great about them - a mixture of different folks and unique arts and commerce, until that changed, mostly due to greed.  I remember in the 90s when we just put our foot down and did not allow McDonald's to open on Hawthorne.  It seems most urban dwellers these days want this so why can't we figure out how to have this kind of livability?