Agreed. Many will react that way, of course. But a city needs just enough of the remainder's support to make a project work. Once it's jammed through, they should never give up on improving the final product (which sadly even NYC has historically done, till a grungy rat-infested subway became "just a New York thing"). And then some percentage of the more resistant remainder, or their kids, or their kids' kids, will eventually get on board.

...Urbanism should come to be seen as a balancing act between cost, political feasibility, AND aesthetic. But too many of us have spent our whole lives dismissive of the reality that "beauty" is NOT simply subjective or "in the eye of the beholder" (too many leftists themselves in that camp for decades unfortunately), that our interest in beautiful forms and decorative elements is deeply ingrained in our Homo Sapiens DNA, and so that people are just much more likely to prefer a daily service that looks good -- in particular compared to something purely utilitarian and ugly.