"Not in my city, in that other city," says every city, everywhere. Hence NIMBY: they aren't saying "no", just Not In My BackYard.

The problem is everyone is saying this. So you have nowhere to build. Santa Cruz should not get special treatment - it will be offered the same deal as everyone else: build what is required to house people in the way you want, or build what is required to house people in the ways other people want.

As a resident of Santa Cruz, we need a looooot more housing in Santa Cruz. And elsewhere too. But my concern is for the future of Santa Cruz and having some place for my children to live in the future, in an environmentally sustainable way.

This entire country once decided they could just build stuff outside of the city and it led to endless bland sprawl, nightmare commutes and environmental devastation. Transitionally, Santa Cruzians don't like any of those things.

that's a very long way to just say N I M B Y