I grew up in San Francisco in the 60's. Neighborhood Associations were definitely part of the establishment and in my mind, all about those houses made of "ticky tacky".
I moved to Orange County and all my fears were confirmed. I had to pay association dues but I didn't want them anywhere near my house that's for sure. I didn't want them to see my unweeded garden or the inside of my back fence where my kids had handprinted with paint and I'd left it there because I loved to look at it.
Then I moved to Rose Park. I wanted to restore an old house and moved in where one across the street neighbor had a giant peace sign in their front window and the other had a rainbow flag. I thought "I'm home". I still had my reservations about the neighborhood association though. Who were they and how afraid of them do I need to be? Do they really exist while letting our freak flags fly?
Eventually I realized that I needed some advice about restoration so I made a few inquiries---anonymously. Then I joined the events committee at RPNA to see if I could do something fun. That led to more involvement with the neighborhood association and now I've been the president for a few years. I started thinking lately about all my worries about intrusion into my privacy and I'm here to tell you about this neighborhood association in Rose Park.
I was given some very good advice by a city employee: If you want support for your neighborhood, stake out your territory, say your name and what you want and say it loud and often! That's what the RPNA tries to do. We don't inspect properties or write code violations. We don't confront residents. What we do is promote the historic value of this community and tell the city and police what our standards are for living here. We ask for focus on us and improvement. We try to assist other community groups that share our goals.
The RPNA has made some fantastic headway toward achieving a safe, beautiful and diverse community. We want support from the residents. We use the membership dues to say our name loud and often.
E. 7th Street and 10th Streets are our borders and we need support from you to assert what we want to have in our neighborhood. To this end we support the E. 7th Street Collaboration that has formed to improve and beautify this street. We support the AOC7 group that has formed to diminish crime and improve the area of Atlantic, Orange, Cherry and 7th.
Please show your support by joining the association and buying a membership for $25 a year but if you don't, we love you anyway.
