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.
None have been more active than the Abundance Network started in San Francisco and now expanding to Oakland, Santa Monica and with affiliated Abundance groups in New York City.