IN SAN FRANCISCO’S Sunset District, it’s hard to miss the bright yellow signs hung up on many homes that read “Recall Engardio.”
Voters in District 4, a quieter corner of the city that encompasses the Sunset, Parkside and Outer Sunset neighborhoods, are already turning in ballots for the special election on Sept. 16.
They will vote on just one question: Shall Joel Engardio be recalled (removed) from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors?
The effort to recall Engardio centers around the closure of the Great Highway along the western edge of the city to private cars, a move made permanent with the passage of Proposition K in the November 2024 election. The highway has now been turned into Sunset Dunes, a park that thousands of pedestrians, runners and bicyclists use every day.
Proposition K was led by Engardio, despite what election results showed was the majority of District 4 voters opposing it.
Plans to organize a recall campaign began immediately after Proposition K passed, with dissenters arguing that Engardio did not listen to the preferences of the majority of his district or consult with his constituents before crafting the measure.
In May, recall proponents gathered enough District 4 signatures to move forward with a special election, putting Proposition A on the ballot.
If Proposition A passes, an interim supervisor will be appointed by Mayor Daniel Lurie until the next scheduled election in June 2026. The elected supervisor would serve the remainder of Engardio’s term.
The Great Highway is the westernmost roadway in San Francisco. For nearly a century, the four-lane highway spanning over 3 miles served as an artery connecting the Richmond and Sunset districts to the Peninsula.
But in April 2020, during the stay-at-home order issued due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city closed the Great Highway to vehicle traffic and turned it into a recreational space for pedestrians, runners, bicyclists and skateboarders.
It reopened in August 2021 through a hybrid compromise that allowed cars during the weekdays and a park on weekends.
Since then, the future of the 2-mile middle section of the highway between Sloat and Lincoln boulevards has been the subject of a tug-of-war between drivers and park advocates.
Coastal erosion has already resulted in the closure of the southbound lanes of the Great Highway between Sloat and Skyline boulevards, eliminating an important connection for motorists traveling from the Richmond District to the Peninsula. Additionally, sand removal was costly for the city and caused the road to be closed to cars up to 65 days a year.
Before voters approved closing the Great Highway to cars, the hybrid compromise was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025.
Since the November 2024 election was the last chance for voters to have a say on what to do with the Great Highway until June 2026, Engardio decided to craft a ballot measure in which all San Francisco voters determined the future of the Great Highway.
“The existing pilot program for the weekends was scheduled to end in 2025, which means that November of 2024 was the last opportunity for the voters to have a say,” Engardio said in an interview.
Most of the support for Proposition K came from voters in the eastern portions of the city. However on the city’s west side, where residents would be most affected by the decision, 64% voted against it.
Many of us in our district don’t believe or trust him anymore. I worry what worse he can do if he continues this behavior, so I would rather have him out as soon as possible.
Albert Chow, District 4 resident
Albert Chow is a District 4 resident who has lived in the Sunset for nearly 50 years. He owns Great Wall Hardware on Taraval Street and is the president of People of Parkside Sunset, a coalition of Parkside neighborhood residents and local business owners.
Chow is a prominent voice in favor of the recall, arguing that Engardio didn’t listen to arguments opposing the closure and neglected to sufficiently consult his constituents before creating the ballot measure.
“He willfully conspired against the Sunset,” Chow said in an interview. “He’s deceitful and doesn’t represent our constituents and had plans to heavily alter the Sunset without checking with residents.”
Engardio launched his own campaign in response to the recall election. He is fighting to save his position by reminding voters of other initiatives he has advocated for, such as securing financial relief for businesses impacted by construction from the L Taraval Improvement Project, launching the Sunset Night Market, and bringing more police foot patrols to commercial areas.
“I would just encourage folks to look at my entire body of work,” Engardio said. “No one’s going to agree with their elected official on every issue 100% of the time, and it’s OK if we disagree about what to do with our coast. But there might be nine or 10 other issues that you really support.”
Engardio argues that the ballot measure erred on the side of democracy, giving voters the opportunity to make the choice.
“From my point of view, what I did was join four other supervisors to put something on the ballot to give people a choice about what to do with their coasts. And that was Prop K,” Engardio said. “It does seem odd that people are trying to recall me for supporting democracy and supporting choice, and you know, a disagreement over a single policy issue.”
But some residents like Chow feel that Engardio betrayed District 4 voters, believing that there was not enough conversation with residents before getting the measure on the ballot.
“He certainly didn’t hold any town halls when he made these major decisions,” Chow said. “He turned in that ballot measure on June 18 of 2024, which was the last day an elected official can turn in a ballot measure to the board of elections.”
“That gave us no time to talk to him, to convince him otherwise, or just to have a discussion before he crafted that ballot measure,” he said.
When asked if he informed constituents about his plans for Proposition K to be on the ballot, Engardio said that the conversation of what to do with the Great Highway was ongoing ever since he was elected.
“It’s been in the public ether and discourse for five years and then once it was announced to be put on the ballot, then we had five more months of public debates over what to do with the coast,” he said. “This has been constant churning of ballot measures, lawsuits, appeals, communications and debates, and it’s been ongoing for five years.
Recall proponents also feel that Engardio deceived voters when he was running for supervisor in 2022, arguing that Engardio did not disclose his support for a permanent oceanfront park.
During a debate against incumbent Gordon Mar in September of 2022, Engardio affirmed his support for the hybrid compromise that was already in place. In November that year, Engardio defeated Mar by a mere 469 votes, according to the city Department of Elections.
But Engardio also insinuated that a permanent park was not out of the question while discussing his opposition to Proposition I, a ballot measure that called for ending the hybrid compromise and allowing cars to fully return to the Great Highway 24/7.
“It also eliminates what is a very popular weekend park at the Great Highway,” Engardio said at the debate against Mar. “It eliminates that and takes away any possibility of a permanent park.”
Proposition I, which voters rejected, would have also halted future plans to turn it into a permanent recreational park.
In December 2022, one month after his election win, Engardio made a post on Facebook which said, “My husband and I enjoy the Great Highway most as a park. It’s good that city supervisors will let it be a park on weekends until 2025. I believe the future is a permanent oceanside park.”
Proposition I was organized by the some of the backers of the Recall Engardio campaign.
“These are the same people who did not want the weekends,” Engardio said in an interview. “They wanted to kill all of it, and they spent a lot of time and resources, multiple appeals to the California Coastal Commission to kill the weekend.”
For some residents like Chow, waiting for Engardio’s term to expire in January 2027 is not an option.
“Many of us in our district don’t believe or trust him anymore,” Chow said. “I worry what worse he can do if he continues this behavior, so I would rather have him out as soon as possible.”
Even if Engardio is removed from office, it will not turn back time and reopen the Great Highway again to cars.
“The recall is about looking backwards and trying to preserve the past in amber,” Engardio said. “Whereas I am focused on forward-thinking ideas and ways to improve our city and set the next generation up for success.”
The special election is restricted to District 4 voters, and ballots must be submitted by Sept. 16. The results will be certified by Oct. 16.