South Bay (or at least Cupertino/Sunnyvale) is extremely teen-friendly. Lots of opportunities to hang out. You see groups of teens moving independently between local bubble tea shops, cafes, libraries, and town parks. Who do you even think patronizes the dozens of bubble tea shops and light snack places in the area, if not kids hanging out after school?
The author's arguments about suburbs being bad for kids are that (a) he had an unhappy childhood and (b) that kids here have a high risk of suicide. The first is not something I can argue with, the second is simply false. Apart from the cluster of suicides at Palo Alto high schools in 2014, there has not been an elevated rate of suicide among local schoolchildren. Heck, I remember more suicides at my completely mediocre high school in urban New Jersey in the late 90s. It is a shame the author is perpetuating what is essentially an urban legend and a TV pundit talking point.
The reality is, any interest my kids want to pursue, they basically have the best possible resources at their fingertips. The robotics team will have a coach who is an award-winning roboticist. If they're into marine ecology or music production or whatever, one of their classmates will have a parent who's a marine ecologist or the sound engineer for Stanford's theater program.
Compare that to anywhere else in the country, where basically any hobby or interest your child pursues is limited to, like, the Boy Scouts or hanging out at the old shopping mall.