The cliched definition of “irony” involves a diabetic running to the drugstore being struck by a truck carrying insulin.
In Supervisor Joel Engardio’s District 4, enraged locals would claim that truck ought to have been traveling on the Great Highway, but was instead diverted onto crowded residential streets — and begin circulating recall petitions.
Engardio is both a smart man and a student of local political history. So he understands the irony of the situation he’s in, even if he doesn’t appreciate it. Engardio ascended into the forefront of local politics by fomenting anger at the system, and supporting recall movements. But he now finds himself in the crosshairs of those angry at the system — namely, him — and supporting a recall movement — of, namely, him.
At issue is Engardio’s championing of Proposition K, which he and four other supervisors placed on November’s ballot. The measure, which closed the Great Highway to vehicles in hopes of creating a future park, passed citywide with nearly 55 percent of the vote.
So, the Great Highway will be devoid of cars. And a park may yet come. But the unintended consequences are legion. Prop. K was a clear lifeline for embattled progressive District 1 supervisor Connie Chan, who inveighed against a proposition that 63.9 percent of her constituents voted down. It may end up blowing up Engardio’s career. And, speaking of blowing stuff up, Prop. K was the legislative equivalent of drilling into the fault line in the San Francisco moderate movement between old-school Westside homeowners and YIMBY, e-bike urbanists and planting explosive charges.
Rarely will you see a more divided electoral map:
Map by Kelly Waldron. Data from the San Francisco Department of Elections.
In Engardio’s District 4, 63.7 percent of voters voted no on K. These are alarming numbers for a district representative, at least one who aspires to continue being a district representative. You may recall that Trevor Chandler finished a highly respectable fifth citywide in his March race for a spot on the Democratic County Central Committee, but placed a distant 16th in District 9. This boded poorly for his subsequent District 9 supervisorial campaign. And, lo, he was trounced by a 60-40 tilt.
Similarly, it bodes poorly for Engardio that a near-supermajority of his constituents are against him on Prop. K. But it gets worse: In the three conservative-voting precincts grafted into District 4 that wholly provided his slim margin of victory in the 2022 election, nearly 77 percent of the voters were against Prop. K.
This is Engardio’s political base, and these are his neighbors; Engardio, too, was grafted into District 4 in 2022. But what the statistics don’t show you is that not only did vast numbers of District 4 residents vote against Prop. K, they did so vehemently: They blackened that circle with animus.
Perhaps big checks from a billionaire-backed entity to subsidize signature-gathering will materialize, as they did in the school board and District Attorney Chesa Boudin recalls supported by groups like TogetherSF, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco and GrowSF. Or not: If anything, all or most of these groups and their wealthy backers are with Engardio.
But perhaps no big check is necessary. That’s because there are a lot of angry westside voters out there right now, and it’s not overtly ideological. Progressives, moderates, whatever — lots of them are pissed (but especially moderates). And driven.
At the moment, there’s no means of quantifying just how angry District 4 voters are; “ripshit” seems to be the term of art among veteran political observers.
More than one of them independently quoted the biblical phrase from Hosea 8:7: For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. Ardent recall backer Joel Engardio sowed the wind, and now he stands to reap the whirlwind.
Precincts that supported Joel Engardio the most strongly opposed Prop. K
Precincts added to
District 4 in 2022
Percentage of District 4 voters who voted
against Prop. K in November 2024.
Percentage of first-choice votes Joel Engardio
received in the 2022 District 4 supervisor race.
Precincts added to
District 4 in 2022
Percentage of first-choice votes Joel Engardio
received in the 2022 District 4 supervisor race.
Percentage of District 4 voters who voted
against Prop. K in November 2024.
Chart by Kelly Waldron. Data from the San Francisco Department of Elections. Basemap from Mapbox.
A political generation ago, District 4 residents received pre-election day calls from volunteers on David Chiu’s mayoral campaign.
“Did you know,” a volunteer gushed, “that David doesn’t own a car?”
People in District 4 own plenty of cars. What was this about? Did David need a ride?
Political observers attempting to downplay Prop. K as a provincial dispute about an eroding and sand-swept road may be right, but they’re not correct. You may as well try to explain to Michigan and Ohio State fans that, hey, it’s just a ballgame, settle down. Politicians or city officials who stand between westside residents and their cars tend to get run over.
So if you’re wondering if a disagreement about a roadway could spur a recall — which, locally, have tended of late to be fueled by perceptions of crime or chaos (perceptions that, often, cannot be quantified), the answer is an unqualified yes. Yes, this could absolutely get Joel Engardio recalled. And, while Engardio has implored his constituents to consider the totality of his not-quite-two years in office, a single vote or issue, even a parochial one, is often what spurs a recall.
That’s what recall maven Joshua Spivak says, and few people obsess over recalls more than the author and keeper of the Recall Elections Blog. Firing a police chief, re-hiring a disliked city manager, even attempting to make a road thinner — all of these have spurred recalls of late. Unlike the more ideological, vibes-based recalls in San Francisco and Alameda County, an issue-driven recall is actually par for the course.
And, unlike claims of runaway crime and chaos, recalls can be quantified; both Spivak and the site Ballotpedia keep track of yearly recall totals. And, while more people are threatening recalls and attempting recalls, there hasn’t been a huge rise in recalls making the ballot in California or nationally.
But in the Bay Area, that’s not the case. Why is that? Several reasons. This is a place awash in money, and consultants think $100,000 would potentially be enough to run a successful signature-gathering campaign in District 4. And, once a recall is on the ballot, most every Bay Area politician is imperiled. In a ranked-choice election, candidates can win with one-third of first-place votes, immediately putting them behind the eight ball when voters are asked to weigh in on them and them alone, up or down.
But there’s more: Now it’s part of our culture. “Success breeds success,” Spivak says. Recalling elected officials has become something we do here — and in California, unlike other states, there is no justification required for a recall. You just have to collect the signatures.
That’s not the case elsewhere. In Washington an official can only be recalled when he or she “has committed some act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office, or … has violated his [or her] oath of office.” This, Spivak notes, is why fewer than 10 recalls made the Washington ballot between 2011 and 2023, while Oregon had more than 100 and California more than 130 (and more now).
When I ask Engardio how a malfeasance standard sounds, he agrees it does make decent sense, even though this would’ve prevented the school board recall, in which he was a fervent participant, and the recall of Boudin, which he backed.
“As someone who supported past recalls, I’m the last person to say people don’t have a right to recall elected officials,” he says. “It’s a democratic right. But when is it used? What is the bar? These are all valid questions. But being subject to a recall and having supported past recalls, I am probably not the right person to talk about recall reform at this moment.”
You know who might be the right person? Engardio’s constituent, Boudin. Like everyone on the Westside, Boudin drives to work. But because he lives between Sloat Boulevard and Lincoln Way, the Great Highway provides no benefit for him, whereas a waterfront park and walkway do. So he voted for Prop. K. And, if need be, he’d vote against a recall of Joel Engardio.
This is no given. The two are not politically aligned at all. You’ll note, also, this 2019 DA debate, moderated by Engardio and hosted by his group, Stop Crime SF. Engardio’s first question to Boudin, then a career deputy public defender, was unsubtle: “Please outline your trial experience prosecuting property crime and violent crime … ”
Engardio made his support of the recalls a campaign issue in unseating Supervisor Gordon Mar, even though recalls have nothing to do with a supervisor’s duties. This is some weapons-grade schadenfreude here.
But not for Boudin: “Recalling people every time we disagree with one of their decisions or policies is going to make it impossible to govern, if it hasn’t already,” he says. “I don’t think our disagreements are cause to recall someone who has barely been in office half their term.”
A lovely waterfront park — or, at the very least, a walkway where your kids can bike around without being run over — may end up being Engardio’s legacy. But so will the normalization of recalling people who’ve barely been in office half their term, for whatever reason people want.
Joel Engardio is reaping the whirlwind. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, we can look back and see if it was all worth it.
I was and remain indifferent about prop k. But Engardio voted against the wishes of the majority of voting voters in his district – the very people he is suppose to represent. I’m not sure what he thought the consequences of that would be.
Typically, I am against these recall efforts. But Engardio supported multiple recalls and so I see this a just desserts. He should consider resigning to save the city the cost of another recall election.
Resign Joel. You paved your own way straight to this recall. I sat through one of you “SF Politics 101: Parents Night edition” where you pumped up the school board recall as well, something that had a ridiculous amount of money pumped into by people who didn’t even live here – or have children at all. Your schpiel that night sounded suspiciously like “Season of the Witch” as you explained why SF had so “many shades of blue” Democrats, and lo and behold you even held up that book as your “recommendation”. (Gag)
You gerrymandered your way in, off the money of rich right wingers and I hope the door hits ya on the way out.
For me it’s about the lying bait-and-switch. He’s dishonest and can’t be trusted to look after the residents in his district, his entire constituency. He lied and failed us for what he hoped was political benefit. The Wiener model @ the Peter Principle.
Thank you for the article. You omitted some key facts. Engardio bested Gordon Mar for the seat by just a few hundred votes – and a large number of those voters were not voting for Engardio, but voting to remove Mar, who put this issue into play. Engardio’s statement at the time, on the record and in debate, was that he supported a compromise sharing of the public resource. Voters were misled. He lied, lying in wait to put a critical issue on the ballot on the last day possible, knowing it was a divisive issue. Draw your own conclusions, but many will be looking to recall him not just because of the issue, but because of how it was handled.
Not at all a fan of 3 time loser Joel Engardio. He got lucky and “won” his election for 2 reasons: 1) gerrymandering / “redistricting” and 2) exploiting snd stoking voter rage for recalls during lockdown. Now it’s his turn. Schadenfreude fo sho. I dont support stupid, pointless, wasteful recalls but Joel built this. How long you think before they bang the recall drum against Bilal Mahmood for failing to solve the fentanyl crisis and make the Tenderloin “clean and safe” ?
I’m curious how many people who voted yes on Prop K have ever had the agonizing experience of sitting at a bus stop on 19th Ave and watching a 28 bus crawling its way through traffic from blocks away? It’s a familiar memory from my childhood and has a lot to do with why I eventually abandoned MUNI and started riding my bike to get around town. There is no shortage of high quality car free open space out in the Avenues, especially now that JRK drive is permanently closed to cars. What the Sunset lacks are north/south arterial connections that serve as a halfway decent alternative to 19th Ave. I say that as someone who spent his teens and early 20’s growing up on the Westside, and didn’t get a drivers license until I was 25. The YIMBY’s flew too close to the sun with Prop K, and now their wings might melt.
Yes, we definitely need to increase Muni funding so transit lines in the Sunset can be more frequent and more useful. 100%.
Voting down Prop K doesn’t really make sense as an alternative to that, though. The Upper Great Highway has no entrances or exits between Lincoln and Sloat. In other words, it has no entrances or exits within the Sunset. So by definition, the section Prop K will convert to a park, is not useful for any car trip that starts or ends within the Sunset.
I think Sunset residents voted this down out of fear that it would increase traffic on other streets. It’s understandable: it’s the same fear people have in every city when something like this is attempted. And every time, it turns out the fear was unfounded and it’s fine. Most of the traffic just evaporates. What’s going to happen is the Upper Great Highway will go car-free, it won’t actually be carmageddon in the Sunset, and everyone will realize the sky didn’t fall and move on. The recallers are racing against time to get to the ballot before people figure that out. Otherwise, Engardio will be fine.
Yes, the Great Highway has no entrances between Sloat and Lincoln. That makes it a useful route for passing through the Sunset, particularly if you’re trying to get to the Peninsula or Marin. Sunset Blvd won’t take you to the other side of Golden Gate Park without having to take a more circuitous detour around or through the Park, so that means more cars slowing down the 28 line on 19th Ave, or clogging up local streets in the Sunset. And that’s without any of the future housing planned at Stonestown, Park Merced, and Sloat.
I threw out my election predicting crystal ball in 2016, so I won’t be making any calls on whether Engardio’s goose is cooked. But even if he serves the rest of his term, the threat of a recall will probably give him second thoughts before staking out any other bold positions on housing or transportation. Plus with redistricting, D1 should have been an easy win for the moderates. Prop K was a gift for Connie Chan’s re-election efforts.
sunset
Less than half of JFK drive is closed to cars. . There is no JRK drive in Golden Gate Park. The west side has 19th Ave and Sunset Blvd for north south arterials. Would you like Sunset to be come an elevated freeway? That would allow more traffic and generate more traffic too.
“Less than half of JFK drive is closed to cars.” – The useful half, yes.
19th is a traffic nightmare on any given weekend even before K. Now they plan to repave it while the close the alternative. These are actual civic geniuses at work, you can tell. Sunset dead-ends at the park BTW, maybe you didn’t realize that? They closed the existing alternative for political BS pandering. There has always been a bike and jogging path along the entire great highway, you just fell for Bicycle Coalition / Walk SF propaganda, the same as they tried to push through when an elderly motorist pushed the gas instead of the brakes and killed a family of 4 at a bus stop in West Portal. No, the problem wasn’t West Portal. The problem is people who believe really dumb things because of their 1-issue voter status from unaccountable lying graftmasters Engardio and his Breed-backing dark money 501c3-c4 army of developers licking their chops.
perhaps see if there can be more progress on the underground extension into the western part of SF so that there are more options avoiding traffic altogether going north south which can begin to ease the gridlock on 19th? probably take a few years because of all the work that has to be done but participation in the planning stages of where to locate stations and new buses to access stations from the new housing might be something people in the neighborhood should get involved in now instead of complaining later after it’s too late.
FYI – there’s already a walkway segregated from cars. If you went out there, you’d know.
Very narrow, often covered in sand, and no room for bikes. That walkway is a joke.
Wrong on all counts. It’s over 10 feet wide. Plenty of room for bicycles who can ALSO use the highway itself, or the LGH! It’s just stupid to pretend there’s nowhere to bicycle or jog there when it’s always been there and never been an issue. It’s almost never covered in sand, which is significant ON A BEACHFRONT PATH. Liars gonna lie but at least have the self respect to make it plausible for your yuppie transplant gentrifying cause, class warfare stooges from other districts.
“Very narrow, often covered in sand, and no room for bikes.”
— @Stephen Gifford.
This will sound pejorative, but you’re either ignorant or lying. The path is plenty wide. It supports 2 lanes so that walkers and bikers can pass each other safely. It’s also on the other side of the great highway and up an embankment, so it’s not at risk of getting covered by sand like the great highway itself. If anyone doubts this, just take a look with Google Maps to see where the multi-use trail is.
Now is that path perfect (i.e., smoothest)? No. So then propose repaving the path (and widening it if it’s “too narrow” for your tastes). That’s a far more logical, economical, and less congestion producing solution than closing the Great Highway Monday to Friday (it was already closed on the weekend).
The voting map posted in the article above says it all. Folks who live in the Outer Richmond, Outer Sunset, and further down the peninsula realize the value of that road remaining open and the negative consequences they will suffer by closing it. Folks don’t live near it, who never/rarely use the road, and are not impacted by its closure, want it closed.
I am NOT a fan of Enagardio, but the recall process in SF and CA badly needs reform. The right-wing proponents of the Enagardio recall are trying to start a PAC called “Recall Army.” Their goal is to find a billionaire nation-wide funder (think Koch brothers, Mom’s for Liberty, etc) to fund their PAC so they can enable endless recalls of anyone and everyone in California for whatever reason, simply to sow chaos in a blue state. It’s not clear if they’ve found such backer, but this is the opening salvo.
Was Enagardio right wing when he campaigned for the recall of the school board? Was he also sowing chaos in a blue city in a blue state then?
yes
yes
Yes.
Getting rid of Ranked Choice Voting would go a long way in reducing recalls.
I never thought the leopards would eat my face….
Even if the recall is successful, I think D4 voters are going to have a hard time finding a replacement Supervisor who is fully on board with maintaining the status quo of cars-first, no new residential development, and a perpetual sense of being a decade behind the rest of the city in adapting to any sort of change.
It’s a safety first and a demand for a plan. There’s more to closing the UGH than locking the gate and having a back patting party with the supporting orgs and wealthy supporters. This is about not letting the billionaires and their cheer leaders take over SF.
Defend San Francisco has replaced Please don’t forget to remember how lucky you are to live in SF on the chalk board at Tommy’s and The Brumejos, legendary SF family, couldn’t be more on point.
The Great Highway is not a “cars first” idea, it’s a major thoroughfare. It’s literally the safest one in the city, and there’s a bike/jogging path the entire length already. NOBODY has been killed there since Sheila Detoy was shot by SFPD in a stolen car decades ago. The victimstance from transit-PR-operatives is false and disingenuous BS from developer dark money concerns, not real local concerns – how do I know? Locals in both districts affected MASSIVELY voted against it, because it’s stupid and short-sighted at best and dishonest political payola to developer groups in the end. They did not improve traffic, safety, nor the environment in the Sunset and residents will be negatively impacted by it. It’s basic, and that’s why it was a basic fail for Engardio to betray his constituency – families, commuters, workers, everyone. He lied, and morons bought it. We will see him fired for that and replaced by someone who doesn’t lie for a living. Period.
Jaywalkers who run out in front of cars, bicycles, buses, trains or anything else can’t be protected from their own behavior – and it’s nobody’s fault but their own. Walk SF lies are a total joke. Lucas Lux is a damn ghoul.
most people seemed somewhat satisfied with UGH being open to cars during the weekdays and closed on weekends and holidays but once the car drivers placed it on the ballot to end the weekend closures before the trial period was over and then lost, it opened up the idea that maybe the voters can make the great highway closed to cars all the time instead of waiting to see what the trial period results were and have the supes make a decision. so it wasn’t the close UGH to cars people that started involving voters to make a decision in the first place.
Thanks for this article. Two things:
1) Engardio clearly wants to Mayor. So, his calculus about a new oceanfront park is all about the *rest* of SF learning about him. He got his wish.
2) People on the westside are still angry about the closure of JFK, which happened as a fait accompli that Phil Ginsburg got rolling during the pandemic. Like weekend closure of the Great Highway, weekend closure of JFK worked very well as it was, and there was no need to go to a 24/7 closure. (Unfortunately SF politics is an all or nothing.) Closure has caused massive backups in the park, especially on busy weekends in the park, and caused Chain of Lakes, among other cross park routes, to become extremely backed up nearly all day 7 days a week. That has affected people who live closest to those roads. SFMTA and Rec and Park constantly say there’s been very little impact, but clearly NONE of those people live in the District 1 or 4. They probably send a guy out with a clipboard to count people at noon on a Tuesday and say, “No cars seen!”
During the pandemic when the Great Highway was closed, it caused a massive disruption of traffic on the streets near the road. (It also brought graffiti and trash to the area, which hasn’t abated.) SFMTA put in speed bumps on LaPlaya, blocked off right hand turns off Lincoln for 4-5 blocks to keep people from using those streets to get across. So, duh, they saw the unintended consequences of full closure, and it wasn’t pretty. (The no right turn blockages came down later–no idea why.) Yet, still, a supervisor who doesn’t l live on the west westside (sorry, Joel, Lake Merced is not the westside), thinks full closure 24/7 is fine.
I’m not a fan of recalls, and I doubt I’ll sign on for this one, but I’m definitely tired of politicans and city department heads thinking they know better than the people who live in an area.
Right after the election, my nephew made me laugh with a sarcastic comment about Prop K: “It’s not like there are no other massive wide-open spaces nearby that people can go to.”
None of the data backs up any of your statements about traffic disruption.
There’s a fallacy among San Francisco drivers in the city that a given project caused driving to suck. Driving has sucked for all the time I’ve lived here, except during the pandemic.
Actually if you’ve ever once driven 19th on a weekend, you would know better than pretending a study from bicycle coalition / developer money would be required to know this. It’s super basic for locals, you may not understand and that’s why you vote for Breed backing corruption. Ignorance.
“Like weekend closure of the Great Highway, weekend closure of JFK worked very well as it was, and there was no need to go to a 24/7 closure.” Only less than 1.5 miles of JFK is closed. As you would have noticed if you got out of your car, you would see that there are far more people using the eastern (no car) section of JFK than the western section of JFK. The east end of JFK has many people, old and young, fit and fat, walking riding, running and skating. It is fun. Golden Gate Park is a park. McClaren wanted it to be a park, he did his best to keep the roads out which is why Sunset doesn’t cross the park. It took a pandemic to get 1.5 miles of a road in a park closed to traffic. That has been the goal of park enthusiasts for 50 years. San Francisco has another 900 miles of roads you can drive on. Knock yourself out.
“As you would have noticed if you got out of your car, you would see that there are far more people using the eastern (no car) section of JFK than the western section of JFK” ||
What is it with people posting either ignorance or outright falsehoods here? This statement is a complete falsehood. The western section of JFK is bustling every weekend. The road is wide so it supports parking, driving, and bicycling (and there are self made walking paths along the sides of the road for pedestrians). This road gives access to Hellmans Hollow picnic area (which is massive), Marx Event Meadow, Lindley Meadow Picnic Area, the Polo Fields, the field next to the bison paddock, the GG Golf Course, and Beach Chalet soccer fields.
The voting map tells the whole story. The people affected most by this proposition overwhelmingly voted against it. What did he think was going to happen? I’m sure he thought the good people of the east side of the city would remember his imaginary park when it came time for his next political move to higher office. Sorry Joel. Destroying driving and parking is just one part of their agenda. You don’t have the power or the connections to join that party. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
I’ve ridden that imaginary park on the weekend many times. Seems pretty real. And very busy.
Nope. It’s a few thousand at most on a busy day, vs 20,000 on any given average weekday for commuters. Not close at all.
Wait for the tsunami.
Goodbye Engardio, it’s just a question of time.
If I never thought leopards would eat my face was a person.
Your article seems that you think a park is possible. The road will have to be cleared as it is now for emergency vehicles. A bike cannot be ridden on sand.The sand will not stop blowing onto the road.Anyone who gardens in the area nearby knows of the gopher ,mice,and racoon population. There is more destruction ofvthe dunes since the closure on weekends and extremely inconveniently on Friday. San Francisco government has manipulated usage of the Great Highway in it’s survey by announcing it beforehand. The method of counting usage was flawed .Thinking that traffic control will solve the problem of thousands of vehicles is absurd.
i can ride my bike in sand just fine.
There’s going to be a park. It will be great and you’ll love it. Can’t wait to see you there!
It’s always been a beach. A beach that was a park already.
You fell for developer BS and paving the beach.
Your fail, not locals. We voted against your corruption.
We will recall Engardio and all other Breed backed liars.
Peninsula resident here, but often have to drive to the Outer Richmond. The only way that traffic won’t be a disaster in the Outer Sunset when the GH is closed is if a number of changes are made to other routes. Both 19th and Sunset need to have their signals timed better to allow traffic to flow more smoothly. At the north end of Sunset, the elimination of MLK southbound between Sunset and Chain of Lakes causes a backup at Sunset and Lincoln and also causes carnage at 41st and Lincoln as all kinds of people vie to enter the park and cross at Chain of Lakes. Reopening MLK to southbound traffic would help that bottleneck. Since people are going to end up using 41st Avenue to get to Chain of Lakes, a 4-way stop at 41st and Noriega would seem prudent as Noriega traffic doesn’t stop. Lastly, the intersection at Sloat and Skyline is going to need to be redone. Plenty of Daly City/Pacifica traffic comes in that way. The intersection is a three way stop, with westbound Sloat having a through lane to continue westbound. Traffic routinely backs up on Skyline at that intersection.
As a D4 resident I’m glad my supervisor supported this plan that prioritizes residents over people who are driving past.
It’s residents who are driving through. It’s residents who are impacted by the traffic that will result from this. You’re being dumb intentionally, perhaps politically so. Shame. We will recall the liar Engardio and his supporters will be on notice.
‘Boudin: “Recalling people every time we disagree with one of their decisions or policies is going to make it impossible to govern, if it hasn’t already,” ‘
But then he would say that, wouldn’t he?
Strange and puzzling that you missed Chesa Boudin’s generosity when he could have gloated and chortled. Best part about Boudin’s new position at UCBerkeley’s School of Law is that he is inspiring and impacting the lives, hearts and minds of his students and will do sp for years to come. Meanwhile crooked Brooke Jenkins is shaking the bushes for her next payout/donation instead of investigating, charging and imprisoning truly dangerous criminals.
Engardio got votes for not being Gordon Mar and ran a savvy campaigning on it. It’s a headscratcher why he ever got near prop K. It’s a political no-win, now finding himself out of tune with the West Side and D4. And he keeps digging: I saw him last week on the telly offering Sunset Blvd and 19th Ave as alternatives? With the former a constant source of frustration after SFMTA installed a bunch of traffic signals that nobody asked for, and the latter backing up daily even without any lane closures thanks to the half done sewer replacement and repavement project.
There was an out for him, e.g. championing a GH closure not until construction of the envisioned park was actually going to commence, but apparently, no. It’s like he lost all his brains the last couple years.
Engardio didn’t lose his brain for putting Prop K on the ballot. He did that to please his paymasters and the folks that got him to where his is today: Neoliberal and YIMBY pro-developers who have only one thing in mind: leveraging a closed road for future development of luxury condos with the unobstructed views of the Pacific. That is the real reason why he did what he did. The opposition to Prop K is so laser-focused on the “car and traffic” issues that they totally miss the real reason behind this proposition: using the land for constructing luxury condos in the future. Ask yourself why creeps like Scott Wiener were supporting it?
because parks are useful for people and the west side is a residential area.
Truly you have a dizzying intellect
Nice insults from a corruption backer. You seem smart!
These events……1) the recent extreme gerrymandering/ “redistricting” of D4 2) Joel Engardio’s flame fanning and full throated support of the 2 senseless recalls during a lockdown when rabids were even more “ripshit”, and 3) that the recall buzz saw is now aimed at himself Joel Engardio, are the clearest illustration of why San Franciscans must always have and protect
dedicated, neighborhood specific district supervisors. Who is accountable for these decisions without specific district supervisors? Thank Heaven Together SF’s, GROWSF’s and Tech billionaire and oligarch Michael Moritz’s dastardly Prop D (calling for an expansion of mayoral powers and the elimination of district specific supes, thereby making them generalists, aka “deputy mayors”) FAILED SPECTACULARLY. If all of the 11 supervisors were citywide generalists, each responsible for everything and nothing, Joel Engardio could blame Matt Dorsey or Catherine Stefani for Prop K. Remember: Ocean Beach is located within three districts: D1, D4 and D7
haha, the leopards are going to eat his face.
His base may just vote him out if he thinks he’s bulletproof. Three votes in my household. We are already affected by the fast cars, trucks and motorcycles when great highway was closed, enforcement is not the answer, leaving it open was.
would you have settled for just being open to cars on the weekdays or would it have been a regular ballot measure fight to open it up for cars all the time and everyone who uses it can find another place to go?
Engardio is a pure liar. His Prop K is entirely riddled with BS claims on every aspect.
Recall the lying carpetbagger and elect a Local. No more lies from Breed backers.
How is the city going to pay for this “park”? It’s going to end up as the Sand Dunes when they don’t clear the Great Highway because they claim they do not have the manpower and resources. Who will walk there when it’s windy and cold? Will you give monies to maintain it like the Park Alliance, the non profit who sucks money from the Park and Rec funding? Why do non profits need a director and board and high paying managers when the city already has them?
Joe Eskenazi: “Like everyone on the westside, Boudin drives to work. ”
Muni riders and bike riders: “Like a lot of other people on the westside, we ride the K, L, M, N, 38, 5, 7, 31, 29, 28 … and our bikes.”
Yes, that line was so odd to me. Plenty of West Siders also take public transit and bike. What a strange assumption.
This line also was a big asssumption:
“Like everyone on the Westside, Boudin drives to work. But because he lives between Sloat Boulevard and Lincoln Way, the Great Highway provides no benefit for him, whereas a waterfront park and walkway do. So he voted for Prop. K.”
Why would Joe assume that Chesa only voted for Prop K because he lives between Sloat and Lincoln? Maybe he just likes parks. Maybe he is excited to go to the park with his son.
maybe if he needs to go anywhere, he has sunset blvd. and 19th ave. to choose from and does not have to go drive on GH. he also does not live close enough for the traffic that would be on GH to affect his neighborhood?
Joel Engardio needs to go. Looking forward to supporting the recall effort.
The most convincing argument against Prop K is a simple one: in case of an earthquake or another major disaster, it’s one of the only ways out of the city. The entire Sunset and Richmond districts certainly can’t evacuate down 19th avenue. I’m surprised that point hasn’t been surfaced.
Joel has done a fantastic job as supervisor for the district and the city. While closing the great highway poses issues for those that use it as daily, in the long run transforming the area into a public space that fosters community interactions and becomes a landmark destination in the city is something I look forward to. I am also optimistic that this will make us rethink our transportation networks and enable 21st century transportation alternatives. I feel sorry for the single issue voters who are using this one issue to attempt to recall the best supervisor San Francisco has had in decades. No way am I supporting the recall and almost everyone I speak to us against the recall.
The single issue isn’t “closing the Great Highway” it’s that Joel LIED. TO. OUR. FACES. ABOUT. IT.
A politician the voters can’t trust is GONE.
How does a Supervisor recall work? Are the required signatures based on votes in that district? Is the actual recall vote just by voters in that district? And when might that happen?
10% of the district voters get it on the ballot, then the district votes.
It’s important in this case because of the depth and depravity of Engardio’s lies, shameless and baldfaced, in support of a giveaway to developer interests in other districts. He failed at his job so profoundly he must be removed immediately. He’s a dishonest scumbag wearing the sheep’s clothing of pseudo-progressivism, and the disaffected affluent wacktivist class celebrates his shameless immorality and divisiveness as if virtues. Breed backing liars have got to go, period.
Get a grip dude,
I’m a huge Engardio fan, but I really don’t know what he was thinking promoting Pro K. Of course residents want their major artery open, it’s crazy the rest of the City got their say. Imagine the revenge on the east side that could come from the west siders…. Prop K was a terrible idea. I’m in D5, and voted against it.
Is there anyway to undo this prop? I was hearing that with the tsunami warning last wk, there is reason to keep GHW open. Maybe a referendum to cancel Prop k?
I asked many friends in his district to vote for Engardio, he’s a good guy.
“Imagine the revenge”. Here’s one: Caltrain’s electrified now, and a big step up from the Diesel trains. One question to ask on the ballot: How do we need tech shuttles picking up and dropping off in the city any longer? Or, looking at the slow streets on the map: How about turning them permanent and ban all street parking?
As a resident of the nefarious eastern side of the city: don’t threaten me with a good time, sir.
Anti-vehicle crusaders still need real jobs.
lol, stay mad. I wonder if Mission Local will ever enforce this “keep comments civil” policy.
And this is evident.
I live in D4 and I love the park. It’s great, much better than a road that doesn’t even connect to the sunset
Oy vey. Tourists, sheesh. You already had the entire length to run, ralk or bike. Now you create headaches in the Sunset, constant traffic and MORE POLLUTION, not less, around residents. Trolling prop K supporters are the definition of entitled wacktivism at best.
it is unfortunate that there couldn’t have been a compromise solution to the use of a public road. bicyclists really only need a little more than a lane to have a two way path. maybe the strolling path could have been improved to allow for wheelchair access and the cars could use one or two lanes depending on if traffic is greater going north or south. anyway possibilities that could have been a compromise hammered out with the board of supervisors instead of having voters weigh in on all cars or no cars.
They’ll get him too !
Irony to, as the rich people say:
“Hoisted on his own Petard.”
Wille said it’s running against yourself and no one can do that.
Except Feinstein who got 80% Positive when they tried to Recall her and commented on the signature campaign:
“People would vote to put a proposal for an Overhead Sewer on Market Street on the Ballot.”
True, that …
Free Jachorey Wyatt please, Judge McNaughton !!!
Happy holidays Camoers !!
Go Niners !!
h.
People only get recalled for one reason — because they’ve lost the trust of the people they represent.
> Wille said it’s running against yourself and no one can do that.
Actually it’s not that hard to beat a recall.
Recalls are good for acts of malfeasance, corruption or criminal misconduct. Issues to do with “loss of trust” are best left to elections. Please provide specific examples of how your organizing and leading the school board recall resolved or improved issues, systems and the functioning of San Francisco’s public schools. Things are worse than ever now. Ask any public school parent, kid, teacher or employee.
“Recalls are good for acts of malfeasance, corruption or criminal misconduct” – Prop K is rife with all 3. It was sold with a pack of truly breathtakingly idiotic lies, deliberately at the last minute, with developer dark money and no warning. The Sunset and Richmond, the districts affected, SOUNDLY rejected it on the merits. He’ll be easily recalled and the sooner the better. Our districts deserve representation, not carpetbagging liars.
White business owners? Idiot. Steve, don’t worry about all those traffic problems at Chain of Lakes and Sunset Boulevard. Soon the people that really know what’s best for west side residents will shut down those roads as well. What you need to realize is that cars are bad and you’re a selfish, racist climate change denier if you believe otherwise. I can’t believe you even live in this city
And for the people who voted for that great park (where is the money coming from again? LOL) , if this was happening to them, where they live, seeing that influx of traffic on their streets, the value of their properties going down as well, i am sure they would have voted otherwise but here is SF, it is “Me, Myself and I”, the rest can go to hell. We will probably have in a few years as many parks as Nail salons.
Almost 30 years ago, the “westside” was quite supportive of rebuilding the Central Freeway rather than replace it with a boulevard. Westside folk thought they got to decide what happened in a neighborhood far from where they lived, so they shouldn’t really cry when people in other parts of the city think closing the Great Highway is a good idea.
I’m not convinced the Octavia Boulevard project was done correctly, and that might turn out to be the case for the Great Highway closure.
A bit of info on Prop H from Jason Henderson’s “Dueling Ballots: The Central Freeway’s Fate” on FoundSF.org
Joined by the Sunset Merchants Group, made up of white business owners, the association gathered over twenty-eight thousand signatures and qualified Proposition H to be on the ballot in November. The question was simple: “Shall the City authorize Caltrans to rebuild portions of the Central Freeway, and shall the City end the ban on construction of new above-ground Freeway ramps north of Fell Street?”
The Yes on Prop H campaign was run by the Committee to Save the Central Freeway, and paid arguments in favor of the proposition included a range of conservative-leaning political organizations such as merchants’ groups, the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods, a conservative umbrella neighborhood organization, the Republican Party, building and construction trades unions, the association of realtors, and an array of local politicians with conservative positions vis-à-vis automobility.
Two wrongs certainly don’t justify each other, that’s inane.
While we are at it, let’s turn Valencia street into a park as well. Remember that great idea, when one mayor suggested turning Market st like the Champs Elysees? the mayor probably was part of the 80% of Americans who do not have a passport.
As someone who lives near Valencia, yes please! More car-free spaces sounds great. Don’t threaten me with a good time.
Valencia couldn’t even handle the relocation of a bike lane.
One way would be sufficient IMO.
I can see it now,
next election will have a ballot measure to decide if the one way street will go north or south on valencia street. let the fighting begin.
Anti-car trolls need real jobs, preferably back home in NYC / Europe.
A great walkway along Valencia sounds fantastic.
Not for actual businesses. You wouldn’t understand.
Talking about people who do have a car: the ones in Sacramento, who after voting to suppress 14000 parking spaces in the city, go home and park their cars in their garages. We should maybe just ban parking on the streets like in Japan and if a Ferrari is caught going 150 miles down 101, ban all Ferraris. No one is going to mention that some pedestrians are often responsible for what is happening to them.And for the drivers, start enforcing the law, make sure drivers are not going through stop signs, that they clearly stop..but who am i? a dreamer ? a space alien for demanding that? probably.