Editor:
I am a middle school student who lives near the Sunset Dunes. I love the Sunset Dunes and everything that they have put up there. I wanted to share a kid’s perspective.
I’ve always loved living by the beach but now that I can walk on the highway with my family and dog every day it’s just so amazing. I never really thought that closing the highway to cars would make even more of a difference and I didn’t even care if it was open for people or closed. Now that it’s open, it’s the most fun thing ever. I even had my birthday there last year and all my friends loved it. I just started skating there every day with my friends and it’s the new place where we have fun.
Joel Engardio is one of the nicest people I know. I remember when he came to my school for career day and talked about his job and read us a book, or the day when my neighbor turned 100 and he showed up to her birthday, she was so happy. It’s the little things that Joel does for our community that no other supervisor could do as well.
The amount of people who use the great highway everyday is a lot and they all probably love it. There are fun events that you can join in on like the great hauntway, which is coming up by the way. Sunset Dunes is an amazing place that I and my friends all love. Thank you Joel for making it happen.
Sixth Grade Student, A.P. Giannini
Categories: letter to the editor
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
i’m glad you’re enjoying the new playground for those who get to enjoy it. Unfortunately, there were thousands each day who depended on it to get around. Enter deliver their families, including their children and their seniors to facilities that they were needed to get to the beach is always there for you to enjoy but the clothes of major street like that a thoroughfare that thousands used every day was just not good thinking. But it’s closed so enjoy it while it lasts and if you ever need to use and get around the city and drive and deliver your families, let’s hope you appreciate the sacrifice thousands made so you can enjoy it
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Your parents should be ashamed of themselves. I’ll give you a pass for being in the 6th grade and probably don’t yet understand how selfish it is for you to only care about playing on the highway while tens of thousands of other have to suffer every day now just so you can play on your new playground. I hope as you get older you’ll realize how wrong your parents are for supporting this.
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i love the dunes now too and support the UGH closure and dont doubt this student’s love for the dunes too. however….. this sounds more like a love letter to joel engardio. a love letter to the dunes does not in any way shape or form necessitate a need to make it a political.
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Sunset kid: “I love my local park”
Recall people: *really weird comments attacking the kid*
Why must everything be a constant stream of attacks and invective? Can’t we just talk to each other like normal neighbors?
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I do not think the replies are an attack on ‘the kid.’ Rather, they 1) show frustration with smooth-talking Joel Engardio, rightly deserved in my opinion, and 2) serve to show ‘the kid’ that persuasive argument needs to include an understanding of at least one opposite point of view, which ‘the kid’ did not do, but instead thought to rely on the appeal of youth to our human emotions. (BTW, sixth grade is the year in which persuasive argument writing is typically taught, so these comments should actually be helpful.)
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Well said! I absolutely agree!!
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This did not feel authentic to me and even if it was – children and their understanding of the world is not complete. The kid could still enjoy the park on the weekends as part of the original compromise where cars could use the road during the most critical commute times on weekdays and where the families could use it during the weekends. Why does Joel and his GOP funded tech bros and the Biking coalition always operate in absolutes? Why isn’t there a middle ground and why is he so beholden to this group of lobbyist at the expense of D4 residents? Can he not just be flexible and say let’s have a town hall meeting with the people he represents and find a solution that can at least address the concerns of the 65% in D4 that voted against it? These are the questions and the missing calendar event with the people pushing so hard to close the Great Highway is also a head scratcher.
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I was responding to Mark above! Refreshing to hear a kids’ perspective, without adults ‘reading into it’ and the negativity of some…
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Mark works for Engardio so he needs to keep up Engardio’t talking points. Even the Singtao newspapers actually endorses YES on A so Engardio.
Truth: Engardio did not bring 8th grade algebra back – public schools are run by the state, not the city supervisor. Night markets were a disaster for the Irving merchants and residents. The Irving merchants said it took away business. Traffic is worse on 19th ave/Lincoln and spread across the rest of the surrounding roads – Fulton, chain of lakes, 43rd ave, stanyan, and the upper great highway.
Vote Yes on A
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Why is there this recall crew that has to be so weird about everything? You baselessly think someone who doesn’t share the same view as you must be a paid shill (for the record: I’m not). A sixth grader saying they love their new park gets a host of angry comments ranting about selfishness and shame. Meanwhile, most of us in the Sunset are just going about our lives like normal, somehow able to get through the day without working ourselves into an angry froth over this issue and making wild accusations or posting in all caps.
I understand that this is an emotional issue for some people; I don’t understand why this small group of people is so dead set on anger and negativity instead of just talking to each other like the neighbors we are.
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this kid needs to wait and see what its like when hes 16 and wants to sleep in until 10 minutes before school starts. As we all did.
Sorry pal. You need to get going extra early due to the closed street you could have taken to school back in the day. Maybe give the closed highway a rating on Yelp. See if Jeremy is listening
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As a Sunset parent with a 7th grader, I read the sixth-grade letter with interest. It’s always nice to see kids engaged in their community but I’ll admit, the writing felt unusually polished. My own seventh grader is bright and articulate, but his emails to teachers are one-liners, and his thoughts on local politics are limited to “can we stop talking about it at dinner?”
It’s not about criticizing a kid it’s about recognizing when something feels more like messaging than personal reflection. The phrasing, structure, and alignment with campaign themes made me pause. If we’re going to elevate youth voices, let’s make sure we’re hearing them as they are not as we wish them to sound.
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Well said!
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