Even charity counts for little. Sure, in September, the company plans to send 50 to 100 employees a day to volunteer at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, a social service group. And in the past year alone, Macromedia has given away over $1 million worth of software to 32 Bay Area organizations, including schools, the Asian Women's Resource Center and Arriba Juntos, a 35-year-old employment agency in the Mission for the homeless.

But L and K are blind to such efforts. Fans of Proposition L say, however, that there are big-picture benefits. If other businesses like Macromedia and Bigstep.com -- which would be unaffected by the new law -- go elsewhere, competition for space would decrease and rents would subside, says Debra Walker, co-chair of the Campaign to Save San Francisco. "It will help everyone who is struggling to stay in this city, everyone from artists to mechanics who are being pushed out," she says. "There is only so much that San Francisco can absorb."

Critics contend, however, that by cutting off technology companies, voters also would throw away not just charity dollars, but jobs. According to a July study by the San Francisco Partnership, the Internet boom has created 42,000 new jobs in the city during the past five years. Another 8,000 will be added by the end of the year, and since those who work for traditional companies' Web sites like Gap.com weren't counted, this may even be a conservative estimate.

Technology companies also have contributed millions in taxes. Plus, urban planners and executives say that Proposition L, and possibly even the weaker Proposition K, won't help depress rental prices. In fact, they say, limits only drive prices closer to the stratosphere. "As a business person with an economics background, I can't understand how you can decrease prices by lowering supply without lowering demand," says Beebe at Bigstep.com.

Lars Lerup, dean of the school of architecture at Rice University, says: "It's basic economics. The supply should meet demand."

Of course, to a certain extent, this is beginning to happen. Since the stock market nose-dived in April, several e-commerce companies like Quokka Sports and Della.com have given up space that they were holding in anticipation of growth. But demand continues to run high. In fact, as soon as Della.com let go of some room, Concrete Media, a Manhattan e-business consulting firm, scooped it up -- despite a price tag that's more than 40 percent more than the company pays for its new space in New York.

"San Francisco is still the epicenter, the mecca of all things technology," says John Fox, the general manager at Concrete Media. "And that means there are not just cultural reasons to be here, but also tangible reasons, like the talent which that culture breeds."

So as long as this demand continues, building a business in San Francisco will entail not just beating the competition and becoming part of the new-economy clique, Beebe says. It also means joining a community -- one with a history that includes not just the gold rush, but progressive politics. And in the long run -- regardless of how many companies build or do not build here -- that may not be a bad thing. Beebe even hopes that the mood here will become contagious.

"Dot-com or not-com -- all businesses need to be socially responsible," Beebe says. "That's the great thing about this development war; it's forcing businesses to give back."