NOPNA Board Votes Strong Support for Masonic's Boulevard Design

The Board of Directors of the North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA) has added its support to an extensive re-design of Masonic Avenue dubbed the Boulevard option. Jarie Bolander, NOPNA President, informed city planners this morning by email, that the board decided to support the Boulevard option "because that's what the majority of our neighbors want." The NOPNA board's decision is based on a recently completed survey the group presented to NOPA and Masonic area residents.

Bolander noted the data from that survey revealed a preference for the Boulevard treatment by more than 87% of respondents compared with nearly 54% for an alternative, less extensive option. Especially persuasive to board members was the striking 86% support for the Boulevard among paid NOPNA members. The board's official decision for NOPNA now places the association among other neighborhood groups who support the safety and re-design measures for Masonic as well as the majority of residents who supported the same proposal in a SFMTA survey last year.

Bolander guided the association board's discernment of the Masonic-related issues through a thorough and sometimes contentious process that reached resolution only with the additional evidence of strong support from the neighbors that the NOPNA survey provided. He noted in his letter to the city that the board's decision was not unanimous.

For other articles in the A Better Masonic series, check here.

D5 Clean Team Saturday Sweep

A smile perhaps from McKinley's ghost this morning? Hundreds of District 5 neighbors converged around the slain president William McKinley's monument at the Baker street end of the Panhandle today to scrub, paint, weed, grab, and buff the neighborhoods.

(Come on, you do know this isn't just the east-end statue at Baker, right? President Teddy Roosevelt made his only stop in NOPA in 1903 to sanction the future memorial to his assassinated predecessor. Graffiti swipers and trash grabbers you'e on historical gounds.)

Our own supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi, deftly garbed in green helped out along with NOPNA president Kevin Rafferty and vice-president Jarie Bolander. We missed the opening send-off from the podium, but Dept of Public Works director Ed Reisken was there to rally the troops and thank them for their efforts. DPW trucks lined the block with supplies and ready to cart away all the (ahem, illegally) dumped refuse that bedecks our blocks every now and then. Do we need to declare a NOPA USED MATTRESS DAY?

We found our Graffiti Watch champ, Doug Dilboll, (right, in photo) strayed into the Haight with a mobile graffiti cart. Taggers beware.

Thanks, neighbors near and far. NOPA: Now ready for it's close-up.