The main problem with lavishness, IMHO, is not optics per se, but rather that it’s extremely easy for people to trick themselves into believing that spending money on their own comfort/​lifestyle/​accommodations is net-good-despite-looking-bad (for productivity reasons or whatever). This generalizes to the community level.
(To be clear, this is not to say that we should never follow such reasoning. It’s just a serious pitfall. This is also not original—others have certainly brought this up.)
The main problem with lavishness, IMHO, is not optics per se, but rather that it’s extremely easy for people to trick themselves into believing that spending money on their own comfort/​lifestyle/​accommodations is net-good-despite-looking-bad (for productivity reasons or whatever). This generalizes to the community level.
(To be clear, this is not to say that we should never follow such reasoning. It’s just a serious pitfall. This is also not original—others have certainly brought this up.)