The park is partially reopened last year and you can definitely bike or hike in without reservation (https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=540). My friends and I were able to ride a lot of trails but the shade is mostly gone for sure.
Asteroids are indeed much more dangerous because no atmosphere exists to protect machines and human from space scraps and lights.
That said I think human need to be multi-planet to be able to survive big disasters. And asteroids as a small scale space station has its own benefits compared to planets or space crafts.
Worth mentioning that recent cars are big AF compared to their older generations. A small red 1990 BMW M3 and a big red 2020 M3 are visually very different. If my car is a large SUV I wouldn’t pick a green one, for example.
Palo Alto is famously anti-development. Far ahead in the digital world but stuck in the 20th century physically. And Stanford has so much open land for nothing but nature. I mean come on…
FWIW, Caltrain is being electrified and there are people fighting for more development and density.
I don’t think the point is turning communities into NY and LA. The world is full of places that are neither single family homes only or skyscrapers only. Yet America has a weird attachment to (exclusively) single family homes and car-dependent life.
I believe that communities and small cities could be a more vibrant and livable place when they are slightly denser and more walkable.
My smallish city is 20 miles south of SF and it’s becoming more and more walkable and bikeable unlike sprawling San Jose or mansion-only Atherton.
The areas with stable weather such as the OR and CA have been building too few homes to keep up with the population growth.
Take the medium sized town I lived in for example, average home price is well over $1M which is unreachable for most. The city is bounded by sea and mountains and the land is mostly built out. Even though all new constructions are multi-family homes, hundreds more needs to be built. Existing homes are privately owned and will hardly change even under SB9 (allowing duplex). Empty or vacant lots are few and take years to review/infill.
Found this an unfortunate recurring theme when people talk about moving for jobs/weather/lifestyle. The life-changing things are often local and outside your news feed