Perched just outside the shadow of a looming pop-up, Ward 4 Council candidate Renee Bowser railed against the influx of the contentious additions on Thursday.

The initial Zoning Commission ruling (the first of two votes) to limit pop-ups’ allowable height from 40 to 35 feet in certain neighborhoods doesn’t go far enough, she said. “The infrastructure effects and parking issues weren’t addressed … it still allows developers to overrun our neighborhoods.”

Bowser, a lawyer and ANC commissioner, is one of 11 candidates also standing in the shadow of Brandon Todd, who has both the clear fundraising lead and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s blessing.

She’s gone after Todd for taking donations from “powerful special interests” in mailings. At the rally, she turned her attention to his benefactor and former boss, calling on Mayor Bowser to put an immediate moratorium on pop-ups.

It isn’t exactly clear if that is even possible.

“If a proposed project complies with the Zoning Regulations and Construction Codes, DCRA does not have discretion to disapprove it,” Matt Orlins, a spokesman for Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, said in an email.

The mayor’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Still, the rally drew a handful of supporters and neighbors to 1422 Shepherd Street NW, outside a house that epitomizes the issues that some Washingtonians have with pop-ups.

The building was bought in 2013 by an LLC named after the address and registered in Great Falls, Va. While most of the facade mirrors its neighbors, a rooftop addition is in the midst of being planted on top of it.

Janice Smith, who attended Thursday’s rally, said her son, Ian, lives in the home next door. His property was damaged during construction and insurance refused to cover it, which has led to a six-month long fight with the owners, she alleged.

Diane McDougall, who lives a few blocks up, lamented that such issues with developers has become an increasingly frequent problem in the area.

“Back in the day, your neighbors would tell you if they were going to be doing some renovating or construction. They would talk to you and say I’m going to protect you and work these hours,” she said. “They would find a way to make sure that everything was ok. Now, nobody does that anymore.”

On a block of modest rowhouses, the pop-up at 1422 Shepherd stands across the street from another converted house, albeit without a rooftop addition, that has been converted into condos. Instead of the neighborhood’s characteristic front porches, two iron staircases lead up to stark, modern units.The whole building is registered to an LLC based in Beltsville, Md. that purchased it for $585,000 last year. Now, one two-bedroom unit has been listed for $599,000 and the other is on the market for $569,000.

That kind of property price increase has longtime neighbors worried about the future and make up of their community. And in addition to the aesthetic and construction issues, they point out that pop-ups make it even more lucrative for developers to chop up single family homes.

Renee Bowser is hoping that voters will notice that she’s taking a stand on the issue.

“There is no evidence that pop-ups address the affordability crisis in Ward 4 or D.C. as a whole. Quite the opposite, the pop-ups speed up the increases in home prices in many neighborhoods,” she said.

But will her focus on the issue actually work to draw votes?

“I’m very encouraged by what I’ve heard,” said McDougall. Still, she didn’t commit her vote one way or another.