SAN FRANCISCO SUPERVISOR ALAN WONG faced his first contentious public appearance on Wednesday as he defended his idea to reopen the Great Highway to cars on weekdays.
Wong spoke to a room full of Sunset District denizens who all love the fact that the thoroughfare has been closed to vehicles and turned into a park named Sunset Dunes.
The crowd of pro-Sunset Dunes residents packed into the back patio of a bookshop for the town hall with Wong, who said he has listened to constituents on both sides of the issue and believes that most of them do not like the fact that the Great Highway is now closed to traffic.
“I had the opportunity to meet with a variety of groups, including some of the folks that had been active for Sunset Dunes,” Wong said. “For me, this is an opportunity for me to come here and have that continued dialogue.”
The Great Highway ran from the Richmond District to Daly City, but the passage by San Francisco voters of Proposition K in 2024 closed the thoroughfare to cars in favor of the oceanfront park now called Sunset Dunes. However, the majority of voters in District 4, where the Great Highway is located, voted against its closure.
The closure played a major part in voters recalling the former supervisor of District 4, Joel Engardio, who led Proposition K.
Wong, who was appointed to Engardio’s seat one month ago, has now inherited the divisive battle on the future of the Great Highway.
Wednesday’s forum was held at Black Bird Bookstore and Cafe, located in the Sunset District just a few blocks away from the coastal park. It was organized by Friends of Sunset Dunes, the group that pushed for the creation of the park.
More than 500 people registered for the event, but the small venue limited the crowd to about 100, all of which it seemed were in direct opposition to Wong’s position.
Wong laid out his stance on the Great Highway to the disappointment of dozens of supporters of keeping Sunset Dunes as it is — a former thoroughfare turned into a permanent oceanfront park for pedestrians.
Wong proposes to again bring a change to the Great Highway through a ballot initiative, much to the chagrin of those in attendance Wednesday.
“It’s pretty straightforward and simple,” he said. “It would rescind Proposition K, and it would, by ballot initiative, have the closure on weekends at either noon or 6 p.m. on Fridays.”
Some attendees shook their heads and whispered in disagreement.
Several supporters of keeping Sunset Dunes as a full-time park came up to the microphone and shared what they saw as benefits of the park and the downsides to having it open back up to cars during the week.
Parents discussed how their children use the park daily to learn how to skateboard or ride bikes. Others said how the flat, paved road is ideal for older people and others with mobility issues.
“Every day we’re seeing more and more elders walking outside together,” said Jamae Tasker, the director of Sunset Cooperative Nursery School , which has a direct view of Sunset Dunes. “What we’re seeing is so many more families being outside together in community, something that really you can’t put a value on.”
Forum revealing deep divide
But what began as a civil dialogue quickly turned sour as attendees realized Wong was set in his position to create another ballot initiative. Hecklers interrupted him and attendees looked on in dismay with their arms crossed as Wong answered questions.
Heidi Moseson was the designated moderator of the forum, but as a founding board member of Friends of Sunset Dunes, she did not provide a non-biased role and was vocal in her opposition to Wong’s proposal.
“It’s so much more than a running trail next to the highway,” Moseson said. “It includes a spinning rock … a skate park, a bike play area, picnic tables, fitness equipment, benches, and it’s just a unique coastal gathering space … Under your proposal, as you just said, these amenities would all have to be ripped out.”
Wong shared his perspectives, such as concerns over more cars traveling on other main roads like Sunset Boulevard and 19th Avenue.
“The traffic doesn’t disappear,” he said. “When the roadway is closed, people will still be commuting. And when that happens, naturally, they will go through other routes.”
He also noted how traffic injuries increased in District 4 after the Great Highway was closed, according to city data. Wong said the increase could be the result of more cars traveling through the district instead of via the Great Highway.
“Ultimately, when a main thoroughfare is taken away, the traffic will have to diffuse through other avenues to get to where they need,” he said. “That results in traffic that is moving through the Sunset neighborhood, which creates traffic safety concerns for people living in the residential parts of our neighborhood.”
But the former supervisor Engardio, who showed up to the forum, said in an interview that traffic concerns can be addressed through more enforcement.
“That has nothing to do with Great Highway,” he said. “That’s about bad behavior all over the city, so that’s an issue of traffic enforcement.”
Since being recalled in September, Engardio has vowed to defend Sunset Dunes from efforts to reverse Proposition K.
Engardio also pushed back against Wong’s argument that traffic has caused longer delays on other thoroughfares like Sunset Boulevard.
“Sunset Boulevard is taking the lion’s share of all the traffic that used to be on Great Highway, and it’s still under capacity,” he said. “Sunset Boulevard is six lanes of traffic, and the Great Highway had four, so Sunset Boulevard is able to take up the slack, and it is. People are getting where they need to go.”
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency released data in July 2025 on traffic changes a few months after the Great Highway shut down to cars.
It found that cars spent one to two extra minutes on 19th Avenue, but that Sunset Boulevard remained at pre-pandemic volumes. It also found greater congestion on roads like Chain of Lakes Drive, but that traffic in the residential avenues remained the same.
Wong ended the forum by emphasizing how the crowd’s disagreements are only on one issue, and that he hopes they can move forward and work together on other issues.
“In times when we agree or disagree, I’m committed to be here to have dialogue and to have conversation with everybody in the district,” he said.
Wong questions forum structure, venue
After the event, Wong’s office shared a statement about how the format and venue were not ideal. He said he offered to help locate another venue to accommodate the large crowd, but it was apparently declined.
“The office offered Friends of Sunset Dunes help using the power of the District 4 office to identify a venue that could accommodate all RSVPs and broader participation and ensure that community members with different perspectives would have the opportunity to attend and be heard,” his office said. “The offer was not accepted and organizers retained control over the event’s format and structure.”
Wong’s office did not say if another forum on the future of Sunset Dunes is scheduled.
Supervisors Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, and Shamann Walton have previously expressed interest in Wong’s new proposal. At least four supervisors are needed to get the measure on the ballot.