SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco supervisor was recalled Tuesday after he successfully pushed to turn a stretch of coastal highway used heavily by neighborhood motorists into a car-free park despite strong objections by his constituents.
Supervisor Joel Engardio became the fifth elected official to be ousted in a recall vote in four years. He conceded, saying in a statement that he accepts the outcome and still stands by his decision to help create a park called Sunset Dunes.
“Sunset Dunes is a success. It’s good for the environment, good for our local economy, and it’s bringing joy to people of all ages,” Engardio wrote. “Very soon, we will wonder why this was ever a controversy. We won’t be able to imagine San Francisco without a coastal park and all the benefits it offers.”
CA-1 is literally two blocks in the other direction, and more connected to other destinations. Why put a highway between people and the beach? We have roads like that all over the Boston area and no one likes them.
fueled by many of the same people who tossed out three liberal school board members and politically progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022. Engardio, a crime victims’ advocate in his first term, supported those recalls and was elected that year to a seat on the city’s Board of Supervisors.
Live by the recall die by the recall
This is what happens when you elect a bunch of people cosplaying as leftists.
Engardio, a victim’s advocate who turned a road into a park is cosplaying as a leftist? Why do you say that? There is such a weird thing about who’s left and who isn’t on this platform, and I’m really trying to understand it.
What does being a victims advocate have to do with anything? This is no different than the opinion that “all police are heroes.” People’s jobs don’t define them as a person.
It was mentioned elsewhere that the closure was more about reducing the cost to keep the road clear of sand that was constantly blowing over it, he supported recalls of progressive legislators, and the OP article even lists him as a “moderate Democrat” which these days is to the right of Ronald Reagan.
There’s nothing weird about calling people out for pretending to be something they aren’t especially when that person wields power and influence over others and actively sabotages the very group they claim to represent. People believing that this guy is a leftist while working as a political figure in a town full of billionaires is what’s weird.
I really hope they understand their mistake before bringing in some idiot who will repave it and put up a parking lot
They can’t, the park was created by a referendum by the whole city, which passed last year with the more populace east side voting for it and the more suburban west side, where the park is, voting against. This recall was more about spite from the West siders mad that they lost and that their representative didn’t back them then actually trying to change anything.
Those west siders are morons then, because surely their property values will go up significantly more having the park there than they would having a relatively unnecessary boulevard. People want to live near parks, not stroads covered in sand
Pave paradise to put up a parking lot
Been singing it for 60 years now
We don’t deserve people like this
We actually don’t, the guy wasn’t that progressive and was only advocating for it because the cost of renovating and maintaining that stretch of road was unjustifiable since the dunes constantly migrate and cover it.
The guy was actually more on the right by san francisco standards and got elected fear mongering on crime during the post blm reaction.
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Typical out of touch political bullshit gotta do something and make waves with complete waste of time actions. We don’t want to delete the ability for a single community in norcal to travel, we want goddamned trains and functional public transit so that we can avoid the need to use cars.
Don’t shut down random ass roads until you fix the core fucking problem. Any fucking moron can shut down a road, a real ladder should see what the people actually need and give them better transportation opportunities.
Getting sick of this lazy ass absolutely bare minimum chat GPT do my assignment for me type of “action”.
He didn’t do it to make waves, the city voted and passed a referendum to close the highway and make a park, he just endorsed the referendum.
It also didn’t delete the ability for people in the sunset or the Richmond to travel, there’s a parallel road a couple blocks inland that is actually more connected to the highway network. People mainly went down the great highway because it was scenic, not because it was the best route.
It was also just a bad road for cars, the dunes on the beach would migrate all the time and the city would have to pay to clean up the sand. It’s better for pedestrians and cyclists who care less about a bit of sand on the road.
Appropriate, given that he chose to act against the interests of the people he was representing. They’ll have a hard time undoing the damage (if I understand correctly, the entire city would need to approve) but at least they can prevent more of that sort of thing.
He might be right when he says that San Francisco as a whole is better off with this park, but I don’t think the role of local politicians is to maximize global well-being, as opposed to the well-being of their constituents, unless their constituents want to maximize global well-being.
That’s the problem with being a benevolent dictator- if an action is for the greater good but the people don’t want it, is it still good? What are you willing to do to stay in office now that the people have proven they don’t know what’s best for them, and you know that you do?
I don’t think it’s a matter of the people’s ignorance. His constituents may agree that the park is good for San Francisco as a whole and still oppose it.
What does global have to do with it? This is entirely about San Francisco.
I don’t mean literally the entire globe but rather any group larger than his consistency. And he doesn’t represent all of San Francisco.
He represents his district in the board of supervisors. He works for all of San Francisco. And he didn’t do this alone, four other supervisors and the mayor signed on to this: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/san-francisco-reat-highway-oceanfront-park/3571361/
