Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s Abundance made a splash after its March release, earning a spot on the New York Times’ best seller list, a rarity for a book steeped in political wonkery. As weeks passed, it earned its share of critics — the Phoenix Project, among them — who rightly see it as right-wing Reaganomic policies slickly re-packaged.
The YIMBY-ism espoused in Abundance should be familiar to San Franciscans. The YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) movement began right here in San Francisco and has, to date, spawned a handful of political organizations – GrowSF, Housing Action Coalition, YIMBY Law – that are richly funded by those who stand to benefit from the rampant de-regulation they espouse. These local YIMBY organizations are closely tied to and a part of the Astroturf groups that have spent millions to move San Francisco in a dangerously rightward direction.