Uh oh, for the first time at one of these Masonic Avenue meetings in the Western Addition, I met people who are pissed at the whole process. And these are people who are nearby residents.
(Whenever the City gets around to doing outreach with the stakeholders who currently use Masonic, well, there could be some more opposition still.)
Get some of the deets of last night’s meeting over at The Square website (but keep in mind the dollar amounts mentioned there are off by three orders of magnitude).
A good 140 people or so at a local prep school (it’s like Hogwarts but more expensive and less magical) last night:
Click to expand
Boulevard or Gateway or Something Else?
Medians no matter what:
Boulevard up top and Gateway below:
Gateway starting at Fell:
Amenities:
Plaza and Public Arts Space. You’re supposed to play bocce or volleyball on the lane that currently takes traffic from eastbound Geary to southbound Masonic.
But “improvements” are coming irregardless
Here are the next steps. Om It Goes:
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A Gateway to what? Trader Joe’s?
And “pedestrian refuge”? Will the city install heaters and emergency food rations for the pitiable Donner Party-esque peds who have to winter on the median for 60 seconds?
And as for the bike lanes… why anyone, even the most experienced cyclist, would want to ride on Masonic (and Fell, too) even with a fancy raised bike lane is a mystery. I’m all for bicycling, commuting and recreationally, but why do it on streets that are simply unpleasant to ride on when there are better options one block away?
If you want to get from south of Geary to Geary on a bike then Masonic is the only option for a good long way in either direction that doesn’t involve some serious hills.
I ride north to south and south to north almost every day. Baker is a much better option – less traffic, less hilly. Why anyone wants to ride on Masonic and/or Fell is baffling.