[fmajid]

It's not one 800lb gorilla but a whole troupe of them mentioned in the article:

- a capricious and arbitrary permitting process

- multiple opportunities for groups to cause mischief, with some like Calle 24 barely disguising that they are shakedown rackets

- excessively restrictive zoning

It essentially boils down to this: there are haves (people who own their own homes like many SF supervisors and like to see them appreciate, and Boomers benefitting from rent control and paying a pittance) who have political power and new entrants who have none. The solution will not come from within, but from the State preempting local control, like Scott Wiener's heroic efforts in Sacramento like SB35. If a housing project is 50% affordable, it can skip most of the rigmarole, as occurred in Potrero Hill:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/How-one-S-F-housing-p...