A while back, a house on a corner lot in my neighborhood was sold. A stand of a dozen evergreens came down along with a number of other trees and shrubs. Two more houses were built on the lot. One sold for $970,000, not exactly opening the door to those locked out of the housing market.
Other cities are planning to plant more trees to mitigate warming, which they have proved to do. If the densification the city mothers want continues apace, people like me will simply move out, probably to someplace where I could get a large house and coveted three-car garage for about what my house in Seattle will sell for.
Increasing zoning density willy-nilly could cause an appalling loss of green in what has always been a green city and also exacerbate urban sprawl.
Walter Marquardt, Seattle