By Damien Rashidi

Betray me once, shame on you. Betray me twice, shame on me.

Joel Engardio, San Francisco’s District 4 Supervisor since 2023, has had a relatively short tenure in City Hall and yet has already committed a serious violation: Ignoring the will of his constituents.

This past election cycle, we saw Proposition K on the ballot, which would have shut down the Upper Great Highway (UGH) indefinitely and turned it into a park. On the surface, a new community park sounds good, but the people of the Sunset District had serious problems with it. Without the UGH, many commuters would have to shift their routes to cut through the small narrow neighborhoods on the west side. Rerouting heavy traffic through these neighborhoods will lead to increased accidents and congestion, and endanger the citizens of the surrounding region. The partial closure of the UGH already has. This measure had no plan and no budget. It was all around a bad idea.

However, Engardio’s violation was not in supporting a proposition widely deemed as a bad idea, it was in supporting a proposition a supermajority of his constituency vehemently disapproved of. If you look at the returns from election night on Prop. K, you can easily see that the west side was united in their rejection of this measure. Some precincts reported as high as 83% of their voters rejecting it! Yet the proposition passed because the people on the opposite end of the City (with higher populations) approved it. Poll after poll through the election cycle gave a clear image of the Sunset community’s rejection of the proposal. But Engardio chose to stand with former Mayor London Breed, Sen. Scott Wiener and Abundant SF over the people who elected him.

As a San Francisco State University student, I became very familiar with the Sunset. Not long after becoming a student, I learned that my best work is done at cafes. There are none I love more than the Java Beach Cafe at the very west end of Judah Street. Having access to such a beautiful cafe so close to the beach, with an easy bus ride from campus, is incredibly nice. Sitting at this cafe, you have a direct view of the very tight roads below the UGH. When the highway is empty, you can already see a buildup of cars at the intersection and cars narrowly missing people. The Sunset’s small neighborhood roads were not built for highway-level congestion and the effect of even just a partial closure is clear.

On top of my time as a student, I was also an intern and canvasser for Aaron Peskin’s run for mayor. This gave me the unique opportunity to speak to voters in the district about the issues that matter most to them: Their core issue was that they feel ignored by City Hall. It is no surprise now that the people of Sunset are fed up with being ignored, especially by the person their vote put in City Hall.

So this violation committed by Supervisor Engardio was not a light one. He has already begun his spin tactic of blowing it off as one issue and to look at everything else he has done. 

Well, supervisor, it may be one issue. But it’s one issue that has exposed your priorities: You care more for a personal political win than proper representation. There is a reason I began with the line,”Betray me once, shame on you. Betray me twice, shame on me.” If we allow Engardio to continue in his position after proving he will not stand with his community over political gain, what’s to say he will not betray their wishes again? The Sunset has long deserved a true voice in City Hall, and unfortunately, without a new supervisor, the wait will truly go on.

Damien Rashidi is a second year Political Science student at San Francisco State University. He most recently worked as an intern and canvasser for Aaron Peskin’s 2024 bid for San Francisco mayor.