One recent afternoon, she spent an hour on the hard wooden benches in the chamber of the Board of Supervisors. She was there to make a two-minute public comment in favor of a dull-but-important proposal to streamline the permitting process for some affordable-housing projects.

Three days later she was back, this time to support a “density bonus” — a proposal to let developers build taller buildings in exchange for including more affordable housing as well. When she arrived, Mr. Campos, from the Board of Supervisors, was blasting the proposal from the City Hall steps, surrounded by 70 or so supporters.

Ms. Trauss and another member of her group stood opposite and held up signs that said “Stop Affordable Housing.” This was meant to be ironic. Their point was that Mr. Campos was opposing legislation that would create more market-rate housing — but also more affordable housing.

Nobody seemed to get it, so Ms. Trauss went inside City Hall to add her name to a list of people making public comments before the planning commission. Her chance to speak would be hours away, so she trekked around City Hall, past bronze busts and wedding parties, in search of a quiet place to take a lunch break. She was joined by a man whose legal name is Starchild.

Starchild is the sort of only-in-San Francisco character you end up making friends with if you spend enough time at City Hall. He works nights as an “erotic service provider.” Asked if this meant he was a prostitute, he said, “‘Prostitute’ is O.K. as long as it’s said in a respectful way.” Starchild spends his days campaigning for libertarian causes and running doomed campaigns for office.

The two ate on a marble ledge and discussed police brutality, pretrial detention and whether it was possible for an anarchist to be in favor of soda taxes. A short while later, Ms. Trauss headed back to a waiting room, where she took a selfie for the @SFyimby Twitter account and began a two-and-a-half-hour wait for a few more minutes at the public-comment microphone.

“This is my life,” she whispered. “It’s ridiculous.”