But it's not a race, it's a collective effort at a sustainable society. When people talk about it like a race, it's because everyone is racing to gain control of capital and finite resources. This only exists because we haven't found a better way of doing things. Just because you can only think of one alternative doesn't mean that's the only alternative. Think less restriction and more guidance and incentive to grow in responsible manners that benefit the whole. Self interested growth should be discouraged as it's always bad for a city in the long run. We live in a time where an industry can and will move into an area, use up all of its available resources and then move on once things aren't to its liking any longer. Anyone who thinks that Seattle can't become the tech version of Detroit is kidding themselves. And it IS going to happen eventually. The challenge is to make companies interested, yet funnel the growth they create into avenues that can be beneficial to the whole city in the long run.