By Patricia Arack
Dear Joel Engardio:
Recall over a single issue?
You have repeatedly said that you should not be recalled over a single issue, i.e., the Prop. K vote closing the Upper Great Highway (UGH). Yes, the recall is for a single issue, but the issue is not the UGH. The issue is YOU, and your behavior, lack of response and a sense of duty to those who put you in office. The devious and secret way you put this on the ballot, thereby evading any community input except for Lucas Lux and his followers, was a betrayal of all those who voted for you. You actually removed our right for community input into your revision of the Pilot Project, which you used as a template for your Prop. K ordinance. You deleted the section that mandated community input. Gordon Mar at least provided the Pilot Project with a section providing community input. You removed it.
We have lost respect and faith in you because you have repeatedly ignored our needs and patronize us, saying you are doing what is “best for us.” That’s not your job. Your job is to represent us, and you have failed. I think that is clear when you see that every precinct in D4 voted No on K, 20-30 points higher than Yes. If you had allowed community input before you sneaked Prop. K on the ballot, you would have known the vast majority did not want the highway closed. You ignored the reasonable compromise, which is the obvious FAIR solution to this problem for D4 residents and commuters and recreation users.
Any political price you pay for the “single issue,” i.e., your behavior, is on you.
There will be no Homeless Issue on the Great Hwy once closed?
Regarding your comments at the Jan. 15 LaPlaya Village Zoom meeting about the coming UGH closure: You said there is no homeless problem in SF parks. Therefore, there will be no problem at the Upper Great Highway when closed. That’s it. End of discussion. I could not believe you could express such a lack of concern and knowledge about a real problem that will affect the quality of life, health and safety of your constituents. You have no idea what will happen once highway is closed. Word is out that the homeless are just waiting to move in. Your answer at the LaPlaya Village interview was shocking in its brevity and lack of knowledge about SF parks, and that, accordingly to you, there would be no homeless problem at the UGH because there are no homeless problems in other parks.
GG Park dedicated outreach rangers have struggled for years to remove homeless encampments and help the homeless find permanent housing. The facts do not align with your opinion that there will be no problem with homeless encampments on the UGH and, as a consequence, in the Avenues.
You displayed a callous and simplistic assessment of the situation at that meeting. Do you realize when the Park Police rout the homeless campers out of the UGH area, they will just move into the neighborhood into people’s yards, homes and driveways, defecating wherever? I have already had unpleasant experiences with homeless people around my house. You expressed absolutely no consideration for your constituents in your answer to the moderator. Why do you always put your constituents last? You fail in your number one responsibility, which is to represent D4 voters. Instead, you betray us.
The homeless issue is already a problem.
Just in the small area around my house on the Lower Great Highway (LGH), homeless encounters have been very disturbing. Do you care? You live far from the Outer Sunset and will never have people defecating in YOUR driveway.
Both of my neighbors on the LGH have had homeless people break into their homes. One neighbor is disabled. In both cases, the interlopers, desperate for a place out of the elements to sleep, entered into the garage area and made themselves comfortable, one in a car and the other, in a downstairs bedroom for several days. They did not attack the owners and left when confronted, but they could have been mentally unhinged or on drugs, and my neighbors could have been injured or even killed by these trespassers.
I have had homeless strung-out people in my driveway and entryway. One young man, completely high on drugs, passed out in my driveway and was almost run over by my housemate on her way to work at 6:30 a.m. EMTs came and refused to take this man to detox, but put him on THE BUS! This person was so inebriated that he could not walk. But the EMT put him on the bus for the driver and passengers to deal with. Nice call, Mr. EMT. He could have taken the young man to a detox center to help him. Another person, a woman working her way half down a bottle of wine, planted herself on the sidewalk right in front of my entryway, so my caregiver could not get past her. She tried to defecate in my flower pot, but I told her to stop and move on. After screaming at me, she moved down the block. Someone else kicked in my fence trying to get into my back yard, and I had to pay a contractor to fix the fence before someone could break into my yard and have access to my house. During the summer months homeless tents have popped up on the UGH pedestrian walkway several times.
Probably the most disturbing event was a young man, on Ortega Street across from the terminal of the #7 bus, in the middle of the block, took off every stitch of clothing, including shoes and socks, squatted down in middle of sidewalk, defecated, got dressed and sauntered off, leaving his feces in the middle of the sidewalk. This happened in the early afternoon Also, I have had to clean human feces off my driveway also.
This is just a harbinger of what will happen when the highway is closed, and you just dismissed the homeless issue as if it weren’t going to be a problem. It’s already a problem.
What are your plans, as supervisor for D4, to deal with this dangerous influx of homeless campers, and the trash, human waste, and drugs they will bring, that your constituents will be facing when it occurs, as it surely will?
Patricia Arack
Concerned Residents of the Sunset
Retired Faculty, CCSF
Patricia Arack
Concerned Residents of the Sunset
Retired Faculty, CCSF
Categories: From a Reader
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
Thanks Patricia for telling it like it is! When he ran for supervisor he was a YIMBY and would follow orders from Scott Weiner, another guy who has to go. One of the reasons he won against Gordon Mar was because Mar was a YIMBY. His true colors have come out. He is a liar and needs to go!
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Homelessness is a very real and pressing problem in San Francisco and throughout the United States. However, it isn’t related to the closure of the Upper Great Highway (UGH). Combining the two doesn’t help solve either.
Traffic and road safety are problems that need to be addressed in the Sunset, and the constant struggle to fight the forces of nature (i.e. sand, erosion, and rising sea-levels) that prompt the closure of the Upper Great Highway is distracting us from making much needed safety and efficiency improvements. A lot of effort and time is spent trying to keep the two miles of the highway clear, and there are multiple other nearby roads that need attention to be more efficient.
The alternate routes add less than 5 minutes of travel time when UGH is closed due to sand or other reasons. When roads close, it usually reduces the unnecessary drives through that area, in this case the Sunset. Overall, closing the UGH is unavoidable, and we are better off focusing on the traffic improvements and studies that are long-term investments to improve timing and safety on the nearby roads. – Yours Truly, A Fellow Concerned West Side Resident
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Great open letter! Engardio’s dishonesty is the #1 reason he can’t represent us.
He couldn’t care less about Sunset & he’s trying to springboard into a State office.
We can save CA voters from making the same mistake – RECALL THE LIAR NOW.
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It is a huge mistake to close the great highway. It is a necessary conduit for escape in the event of a catastrophe or Golden Gate Park closure such as the one that occurred last week
Thanks for your interest, Tom Espy 707-479-6518
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I 100 pct agree with the article written by Patricia.
For the love of God, recall fever is about trust or rather the loss of trust between Joel and the people of D4.
And the last minute work in the shadows to get closing of Great Highway on the ballot. And to add insult to injury, the BS about the park concept. Plus, the salt on the open wound comes every day when everyone in D4, D7 and Richmond is stuck in traffic.
Joel earned trust to win the by all his prior good works. BUT, Joel lost trust by selling his soul to someone.
I hope it was worth it :(.
Maureen Hurley
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Thank you Patricia! He is a person who cannot be trusted. His lack of accountability to his constituents is only overshadowed by his complete disregard for the neighborhood. His only thoughts are about self preservation and making his masters happy: Scott Weiner, big tech, real estate developers, SFMTA, Park and Rec, SF Bike Coalition and downtown special interests groups. He could care less about the residents of the Sunset, he is getting ready to “transform” the Sunset into Utopia. Support the Recall any way you can!
Marty Murphy
sfpoliticshub.com
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Joel Engardo’s anti-recall campaign is being fully funded by tech oligarchs Jeremy Stopleman and Chris Larsen. As we see from what is happening right now in Washington these oligarchs use their vast wealth to run roughshod over average, hardworking people, dismissively promoting their own interests by sponsoring willing/venal politicians to work against the interests of the people they purport to represent. These tech oligarchs are the robber barons of the 21st century. It has been said, “You will be known by the company you keep”. Joel Engardio does not represent any of us is District 4. He needs to be recalled.
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I want to add that when we first learned about Joel’s sneaking Prop K onto the ballot, I contacted him and asked why he did not include the popular compromise, which has high approval, on the ballot. He replied, “It’s too late for that, and it has to be a yes or no answer. You can put the compromise on the ballot in 2026.”
What a dismissive and flippant response to a constituent who voted for him!!! His constituents come last. It would be better we had no supervisor at all, rather than this guy, who aligns himself with outsiders, developers, Weiner, and the Bike Coalition. His anti-recall office isn’t even in the Sunset. His supporters are wealthy tech bros. It’s no wonder that thousands of D4 residents want him gone.
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Another example of lack of representation is his office’s lack of response to a query I entered in late December about closing the right turn lane from Sloat to the Great Highway. – in December when the Great Highway is open. It took 3 weeks for someone in his office to get back to me and then they asked for more details which I provided. They said they would check with SFMTA and get back to me – that was on 1/6/25 and I have not heard anything back from neither her nor the SFMTA. Who is representing us here?
We need someone who will represent us.
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Patricia is a petulant child, albeit on who’s in her 80’s. She represents those who are kicking and screaming at any sign of change, or don’t get their preferred way.
When will SF voters realize it’s not the “Patricia’s” who actually drive positive dialogue, civic discourse, and policy? We have to move forward on this.
It’s time for the Beacon to put them out to pasture.
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To ZeeGeeze: What’s your problem with people living past 79 years old? Do you expect to be gone by then? You don’t comment on the many valid points she makes but attack her age.
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I hope you realize you are the problem, not the rest of the Sunset District.
Calling the OP names because they disagree with you, you are disgusting.
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Hey Engardio’s Techbros, looks like you’ve got a serious case of projection going on! Accusing others of being ‘disgusting’ and ‘the problem’ while slinging personal attacks left and right—pot, meet kettle.
If you want to contribute something meaningful to the conversation, try bringing some actual facts and arguments to the table instead of resorting to playground insults. Or maybe just sit this one out and let the grown-ups talk, okay?
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Yes, it’s disgusting to call someone “petulant child” because you disagree with them. Try harder please, it’s really not so difficult to read Wendy.
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ZeeGeeze: Thank you for so clearly revealing the ageism, misogyny, intolerance, entitlement, and arrogance of the anti-car bike lobby. I could not have written it better myself. Good job!
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If you actually read the article you would see her concern for more things then kicking and screaming for things not to change. Do you live on or near the UGH. I guess not. People like Patricia are vulnerable and dont need the extra added dangers that this measure is not given a S***t about or considered. Thats the bottom line. The people in this area did not have a voice. Ill send the deficating homeless your way.
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