San Franciscans have been abuzz these last several months over the controversial permanent closure of a section of the west side’s Upper Great Highway. Enough so, that a recall effort has launched against District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio for his role. But from the looks of it, average residents see little evidence a recall is being undertaken. A lack of social media hype, a void of regular social media appearances by the people running that recall and paltry fundraising for such efforts are all causes for alarm.
We on the west side voted solidly to keep the Upper Great Highway open. And many voters also support Supervisor Engardio’s recall. But many don’t.
Effective social media is crucial for any political endeavor’s success. Driving sentiment, we’d see photos of rallies, town halls, constituents on the street with signage, T-shirts and buttons pledging support (or opposition to) candidates and ballot measures – it is a powerful educational and motivational drive for the undecided voter and can often counter mediocre traditional TV media coverage.
Buying half-page and full-page advertisements in local newspaper is also crucial. Politically savvy and prudent voters are encouraged by their candidates and causes placing campaign ads during election season. It can help make or break the effort.
A public face, a spokesperson who becomes directly associated with a political movement, and key personnel are needed too, to build rapport, to extend an air of trust, especially if the spokesperson has been involved in city issues over the years.
Since the start of the effort to recall Engardio Dec. 3 of last year, there are signs the people behind the effort are making potentially disastrous errors, decisions that could jeopardize the success.
No doubt the closure of the Upper Great Highway is highly controversial and a rallying point. Of course, emotions are high; there is no shortage of voters telling family, neighbors and friends of the district to support the recall. It’s the low-hanging fruit. But the counterargument to recall, being heavily pushed by Engardio and his team, may be compelling those on the fence to come over to his side, and much of this is due to the two sides of the messaging to district residents. For now, it seems Joel may be winning.
Every few weeks, recall committee fundraising reports are due to be filed with City Hall. And the numbers don’t lie: While the Recall-support committee, “Our Neighborhood, Our Future,” which is coordinating the recall, has raised to date $18,900 for operations, Joel’s anti-recall committee has collected nearly $150,000. This tally will only go higher as the weeks progress.
Bear in mind, there is no official signature-gathering tally of valid signatures at this time. Supporters and foes have no way to know the actual count. There can only be an estimate, put out by the recall committee, which, again, is unverified and unofficial.
So, here’s where the recall effort is faltering:
1) There is a lack of meaningful, open and enthusiastic social media accounts with photos and video spread across multiple platforms such as X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The recall committee has a private Facebook group, locked from public viewing.
2) There needs to be a massive push to fundraise, since Engardio’s anti-recall group is way ahead financially.
3) The recall committee must hold rallies and include as many individuals as possible from across the political spectrum along with supporters from around San Francisco.
4) They must update their messaging to include the many reasons Mr. Engardio should be recalled, beyond solely his involvement in the closure of the Upper Great Highway.
5) There is little to no local TV and print coverage.
Item #4 is very important. At this time, Engardio is pounding voters with calls to oppose his recall. He claims it appears to be over a single issue. He is clearly winning the information war by stating Proposition K does not rise to the level of a travesty to justify his removal from office. There are many, many reasons in fact Engardio should be out of office, including how he votes on issues as a member of the Board of Supervisors. Many of his yays and nays do not reflect the needs and values of District 4. But so far, the Recall group has failed to outline anything beyond his Prop. K connection.
May 22, 2025, is the deadline for the committee to deliver at least 9,911 valid signatures from District 4 voters. It’s a responsibility not to be taken lightly and any and all strategies should be considered. As these weeks wind their way to the deadline, it will become incrementally more difficult to obtain the signatures as initial enthusiastic voters have already signed the recall petition, so the job turns to convincing doubters to join in.
A recall is a chess game, a battle between two adversaries, through intimidation and strength. Exploiting a weakness, having a strategy, planning for when the opposition makes an error. At the moment, the commanding strength and control of the narrative belongs to Engardio and his supporters.
Richie Greenberg is a 23-year resident of San Francisco, a political commentator and former candidate for mayor. For more information, go to Richiegreenberg.org. X/Twitter: @greenbergnation.
Categories: Commentary
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
What campaign would be complete without an armchair activist to tell us how we should be doing things? It’s easy to sit at home and find everything that one perceives to be wrong with a campaign; it’s quite another thing to be out in the trenches actively engaging with voters. I speak as a volunteer who as been out in the field collecting signatures almost everyday since the recall campaign began. I can assure you that there are no “disastrous errors” being made, nor are there “decisions that could jeopardize the success” of this campaign. Quite the contrary. The organizers made a wise decision when they chose to focus on pubic outreach rather than “signage, T-shirts and buttons pledging support”. Outreach is the key to the success of this type of campaign, and suggest otherwise shows a lack of political sophistication and lack of knowledge of the workings of a recall campaign.
As a volunteer, I have talked to hundreds of people who support our effort. I would not had have had this opportunity – which has turned out to be an engaging, unforgettable, and uplifting experience – had the campaign focused on things like social media and newspaper ads rather than person-to-person public outreach. And, as someone who has been in the trenches, I have gained the first hand experience necessary to address and dismantle Mr. Greenberg’s criticism point by point.
Mr. Greenberg criticizes us for what he perceives to be our lack of “meaningful, open and enthusiastic social media accounts”. Why would we need such an abundance of accounts when people can talk to “open and enthusiastic” volunteers? How many people really pay attention to social media, especially when they can have a live discussion instead? Furthermore, can a social media account collect signatures? I think not. Only people can do that. There was a time, long before social media, when all campaigns were run this way. I assure you, it has not lost its appeal. Just ask any of the voters who have signed our petition and stopped to chat.
Secondly, Mr. Greenberg criticizes us for he deems to be a lack of fundraising efforts on our part. We are doing the best we can, but it’s hard to compete with Engardio when he has tech giants such as Jeremy Stoppelman (who donated $75,000) and Chris Larsen (who donated $50,000) in his corner, as well as venture capitalist Ron Conway (who donated $25,000). We are doing quite well when you consider many of our donations are from working people who can only afford to donate around around 1% to .1% of those amounts.
Item number three on Greenberg’s list is our failure to have rallies. Really? Do rallies win campaigns of this nature, or do people in the street collecting signatures win this type of campaign? Most of us would agree it’s the latter. Rallies are great when a campaign has a lot of time to organize them and an appropriate place to hold them; they aren’t so great when facing a deadline that is just over two months away.
Which brings us to the forth item on the list: updating messaging on reasons Engardio should be recalled. If there is one thing of which our volunteers are well informed, it’s the numerous reasons Engardio should be recalled. More often than not, though, this knowledge does not need to be shared, as most D4 voters have already made up their minds about Engardio. (Don’t underestimate the voters of District Four (of which I am one), Mr. Greenberg; to to do otherwise is an insult to our intelligence and political savvy.)
Lastly, Greenberg laments our lack of television and print coverage. This kind of coverage is often expensive (such as newspaper and television ads) and it is always time consuming. It is much more important that our scores of volunteers are out on the streets engaging with the voters of D4. That, and only that, is the way to succeed in a recall campaign. If Mr. Greenberg doubts this, perhaps he should take a moment to get out of his armchair and give it a try. He just might be surprised at how pleasant the experience actually is, and he just might realize how redundant, superfluous and, frankly, annoying his suggestions actually are.
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Mr. Greenberg. You have a right to express discontent with the recall effort but I would suggest harnessing your energy toward the real problem — Joel Engardio. This isn’t about us or you. It’s about Joel Engardio and his failures as you noted. We share your dismay for Engardio. Please consider a large donation to help the Recall team remove this man. We accept all forms of payment.
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