I applaud the CEO for this decision. It forces at least a glimpse of understanding on the local voters that one cannot combine ideological utopia and a functional economy.
The cities that will be hurt are the ones that over relied on a parasitic business instead of investing in essential infrastructure.
The Uber business plan has always been to break the law at a massive enough scale that they can buy new laws before enforcement catches up with them.
And still we should try. It's not like California didn't have a functional economy before Uber. Sometimes it's right to make sacrifices in order to uphold our ideas.
I was just pointing out that the market exists and there's money to be made. Something will fill the void if Uber leaves.