Last night, SFist attended a Board of Appeals meeting at City Hall with the intention of checking out some hot NIMBY-on-Neighbor action. The agenda was literally chock-full of territorial battles in progress, so it seemed like a great way to gauge the current NIMBY climate. Turns out it wasn't great at all. It was miserable. And it was seven and a half hours long.

On the bright side, the meeting wasn't a complete wash: We did find an endless source entertainment in the supporters of a medical marijuana dispensary on Taraval in the Outer Sunset whose tie-dye tees and rasta hoodies don't exactly help the case patient advocates are trying to make. (The dispensary was originally blocked due to a technicality.)

Still, our primary interest was in the final agenda item: an appeal to block a branch of Chase Bank from setting up shop on Divisadero at Oak Street*, so we stuck it out until our item was up some time after 11 p.m. After hearing measured arguments from both sides and a short recess so everyone in attendance could move their cars from the Civic Center garage that closes at midnight, the weary Appeals VP Michael Garcia (who presided over yesterday's meeting) commended those who spoke at public comment in his delightful Louisiana accent at the watch it yourself if you feel like jumping to the 7 hour and 19 minute mark.">7 hour and 19 minute mark:

One thing I do want to say, is that... uh... I'm tired I was sorry so many people were gonna talk, but my god nobody said anything that wasn't worth listening to. Everyone in this room spoke very intelligently and to the point, without getting very hyperbolic and without getting hostile and it was refreshing because that's not always the case.

So there you go, Divisadero wins for most intelligent NIMBYs (and YIMBYs, as nearly as many people spoke in favor of the Chase branch). Please don't all move to the neighborhood at once.

[*Full disclosure: the location is in what we'd consider the backyard of the SFist Western Branch office, although we don't particularly care one way or another whether a bank moves in there. We do our banking with Wells Fargo.]

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