Castro residents might consider banding together to form a support group or plot a protest— anything to cope with the Planning Department's decision to approve a residential addition at 20th and Douglass Streets, despite vehement opposition from some disgruntled neighbors. The home in question will now rise (or in the opinion of the nabes, loom) 30 feet above the venerated Douglass Steps, effectively truncating a bit of the view. Enter Curbed SF commenters: discussions on the subject have erupted into some of the best reader throw-downs we've hosted on this here blog. To wit:
Plaintiff: "My question is, what view? All I see are a tangle of phone wires and haze. "Doesn't my concrete look cool in the distance"? This is typical San Franciscan micro-management at it's best/worst."
Defendant: "The bottom line is that they need to move out to the burbs where they can build the McMansion of their dreams. The Castro has no tolerance for selfish, spacehog breeders."
So on, and so forth; et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. One resident deemed the city's call a "great loss to the LGBT community." A little overstated, yes, but prescient too, no doubt — don't expect the nabe to acquiesce quite yet.
· Panel OKs Castro projects [BAR]
· This Way Up: Nabe Opposes Douglass Steps Addition [Curbed SF]
[Photo and rendering: Tony DeYoung and Joe Metro, via the Bay Area Reporter.]
Sucks to be the Gashi's. The family— mother Cathy, her husband, and their 12 year-old son, and 2 year-old daughter— have outgrown their 1,000 square foot home at 20th and Douglass Streets, in the Castro. The only way to go? Up. However, their tiny abode happens to sit along the widely loved Douglass Street Steps. According to the current plan, their only legal option, the Gashi's expansion project will add 30 feet to the height of their home— and block views of the Castro theater and the nabe's symbolic rainbow flag. Enter the neighbors, en masse. (Note to self: do not fuck with the Castro.) Quoted in a Bay Area Reporter article on the subject, longtime local resident James Hollenbeck's statement hints at a larger consensus: "To think that the heart of San Francisco is going to lose the view of the Castro is devastating to me." While some have no problem with the proposed construction, over 200 locals have signed a petition against the plan; concerned parties have until the 25th to file an official opposition with the city. Otherwise, the Gashi's will receive an automatic green light. Or they'll be stalled out, wait (forever) for a planning hearing, and ultimately face the risk of being priced out of the city. Twenty-two: caught. 
