Sup Rafael Mandelman has proposed a fairly modest law to landmark a grand total of 63 buildings to preserve a historic district in the Castro—and SF Yimby is pushing back.
The organization called the concept of a historic district in one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQ+ neighborhoods as “theme park,” and said it would limit new housing development.
Mandelman isn’t trying to freeze the district in amber, as the Yimbys argue; the city has more than 200,000 buildings and many more spaces that are parking lots or former gas stations that can be developed without demolishing any housing. The Castro district is a tiny fraction of that.
In fact, Mandelman said when he introduced the measure, only 39 buildings would be protected, and San Francisco currently only protects a little more than one percent of its structures as historic. In New York, that number is five percent.
Gerard Koskovich, an LGBTQ+ public historian, noted:
The “theme park” slur is an expression of profound contempt for the historical significance of the Castro and notably its importance to international cultural heritage as perhaps the best-known gayborhood anywhere in the world.
A theme park is an artificially conceived corporate entertainment zone. The Castro as a historic district is the opposite: a built environment elaborated over decades by countless individuals, organizations and small businesses and embodying the history of struggles for equality and social respect.
In a city where only 1.5 percent of the parcels are officially landmarked, there’s every reason to protect a small portion of the Castro from the YIMBY bulldozers. No one can reasonably argue that preserving the meaning and heritage of the neighborhood in this way impedes housing development.
YIMBY violence sees every inch of every existing neighborhood as a blank space awaiting appropriation by predatory real-estate speculators and every current resident as an obstacle to corporate wealth extraction. It’s up to all of us to say no thanks to their grim program.
It would seem that the future of the Castro would be a major issue in the D8 supes race. But so far, two front runners aren’t addressing it, much less calling out the Yimbys.
Manny Yekutiel, who has the support of the mayor and the Democratic Party, declined to respond to my texts asking if he supports the Mandelman legislation. Gary McCoy, who has the support of SF Yimby, told me he’s “not paying much attention” to the historic preservation bill but said he’s not in favor of “2,500 arbitrary landmarks” in the city. He said he would consider supporting some building landmarks in the Castro, but not parking lots. (Mandelman’s legislation does not include any parking lots.)
Michael Nguyen, who is challenging Yekutiel and McCoy, told me that he doesn’t support everything Mandelman has done, but in this case, he’s on board. Calling the Castro a theme park “is homophobic,” he told me, and said that the center of the LGBTQ+ movement needs to be protected from demolition.
Mandelman told me he would stick to his remarks at the board, where he said that “despite some over-the-top” comments by opponents, the city can meet its housing needs without destroying its history.
I’m surprised this has not become a more central issue in the D8 race. Other than the BAR, I don’t think any local news media have covered it.
