Gay San Francisco District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio is now in the fight of his political life, as Outer Sunset residents have begun collecting signatures to recall him. The effort is largely driven by his authoring of last fall's Proposition K, which was approved by city voters and closed part of the Great Highway to vehicular traffic.
Engardio and his supporters as well as recall proponents held dueling events last Saturday.
A launch party February 1 at the United Irish Cultural Club kicked off the recall campaign's quest for 10,000 signatures by May 22, now that the petition's circulation has been approved by the San Francisco Department of Elections. The Bay Area Reporter first reported in December that Sunset residents were circulating a notice of intention to recall the first-term supervisor.
Vin Budhai, who is straight, is the co-director of the Recall Engardio campaign. He told the B.A.R. that "folks are upset about the way he placed [Prop K] on the ballot."
"He wasn't in conversation with community leaders and merchants," before supporting Prop K, Budhai said. "That is what has people up in arms – to not give his constituents a say in the matter. ... We're not talking about the Great Highway. We're talking about Joel Engardio."
The Great Highway runs three-and-a-half miles alongside Ocean Beach. In 2020, the middle section was closed to vehicular traffic to allow for physically-distanced recreation during the COVID pandemic. The following year, it reopened to vehicular traffic during weekdays but was closed to traffic on weekends as part of a compromise worked out by then-District 4 supervisor Gordon Mar.
In 2022, Sunset residents kick-started a voter revolt in San Francisco against the city's COVID-era policies on many levels, helping to propel three school board members and the district attorney out of office in recalls. They also swapped Mar for Engardio, who supported those recalls, and became the first person to defeat an incumbent, elected supervisor since district elections returned to San Francisco 25 years ago.
Engardio had run several times for supervisor in the past in District 7. After the last redistricting in 2022, Engardio ended up in the new District 4.
Last year, Engardio wrote the Prop K ballot measure, which was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors. It closes the midsection of the highway to vehicles 24/7 to establish a new park. The proposition passed citywide in November, but failed in District 4.
"He said it was a 50-50 in his district," Budhai said. "We all know, as the results show, it wasn't 50-50."
Indeed, it failed in almost every precinct west of 19th Avenue.
For his part, Engardio acknowledges that Prop K isn't his most popular initiative, but feels it's one issue among many.
"I'm humbled by the people who voted against Prop K, and I respect people who disagree about what to do with the Great Highway," he said. "I've heard from folks saying they like a lot of other things I've done when it comes to public safety, education, and small businesses."
He is urging District 4 residents not to sign the recall petitions, also known as a decline to sign campaign.
Engardio said that many Sunset residents "know that recalling me won't reverse Prop K – and it can't stop Mother Nature," referring to the fact that the southern section of the highway is slowly eroding into the ocean, and the mid-section is often closed to vehicles due to sand on the roadway. Prior to last year's ballot measure vote, city officials were already working on plans for closing the Great Highway from the SF Zoo at Sloat Boulevard to Skyline Boulevard due to the constant erosion of the roadway and diverting vehicular traffic around the zoo's inland border.
"She's [Mother Nature] decided we can't use this road anymore to get to Daly City because the southern sect is no longer functioning," Engardio told the B.A.R.
Budhai doesn't quite buy that.
"He says this middle section – from Lincoln to Sloat – serves no purpose because the Great Highway [southern] extension is closing," he said. "But once you get to Sloat and Upper Great Highway, it's just a matter of making a left, a quick right, and you're on Skyline," which runs to San Mateo County.
"The Great Highway still serves a valuable service to San Francisco, to Daly City, so I don't know why he keeps saying that," Budhai said.
Engardio said he's been working on traffic improvements in the Sunset neighborhood generally to mitigate the impact of the closure, including making a signalized intersection at Sunset and Sloat boulevards, 41st Avenue and Lincoln Way, and reconfiguring the Lincoln and Great Highway intersection. He also said that on Sunset Boulevard, bus stops were moved ahead of the stoplights so that the right lane can be used as a turn lane.
"I'm proud of my work as a supervisor improving life in the Sunset," he said. "We have popular night markets, I've been a champion of public safety, we have a fix-it file for park benches and streetlights. All of these I've been doing to improve life in the Sunset and I'd ask voters to consider the extent of my work, and not just one issue."
Budhai said that it's OK to judge an elected official on a single issue if it's such a big one.
"He's saying he shouldn't be judged on this one matter, but it's important to thousands of people every single day," he said.
He also noted Engardio said in a 2022 debate with Mar that he supported the compromise that left the thoroughfare open to cars on weekdays.
Asked about this, Engardio said that on his campaign website in 2022, he stated he supported the possibility of a park between Lincoln and Sloat, but that he "supported the compromise in 2022 because that was the best we had in the moment."
He added that the other side "spent 2023 and much of 2024 trying to kill the weekend compromise," and anti-closure advocates supported a citywide vote in the Great Highway back in 2022 when it was Prop I, a measure they supported but that failed.
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