Editor:
I’m a District 4 resident who loves Sunset Dunes.
I’m a senior and go there frequently to walk, and I see so many people there. I always see a lot of other walkers of all ages, families with young children, couples, friends walking together, as well as runners and bicyclists. On the days I’m there, I notice that the bicyclists stay in the fast lanes, so we can safely walk in the slow lanes at whatever pace we want. I just love it. I can’t walk on the beach too much, and those with walkers, strollers or wheelchairs certainly can’t, and no one can when the tides are high.
Most of all, I find walking at Sunset Dunes to be absolutely exhilarating, right above the beach and the ocean, with the sound of the waves, the smell of the salt air, and in the evenings, the incredible sunsets. There is nothing else like it in San Francisco. Golden Gate Park is beautiful, but it’s not comparable to walking above the ocean at Sunset Dunes. It invigorates my spirit and my soul.
I realize there are some local residents who are inconvenienced by the closure of a section of the Upper Great Highway. But the Upper Great Highway and the beach belong to the City as a whole. I believe that Sunset Dunes will become a must-see destination, and a time will come when San Franciscans can’t imagine our City without such a park. And when we get our giant pandas at the Zoo (and the mayor told me at a recent meeting that we still are expecting them), after seeing the pandas and other animals, visitors will be able to take a beautiful walk at Sunset Dunes.
I’m so glad we have Sunset Dunes. And I thank Joel Engardio for having the vision to take this step forward for our City.
Paula Katz
Categories: letter to the editor
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
i’m glad your soul is invigorated. But as regards to this great highway and the beach blowing to the city as a hole it’s always been that way. The difference is now there’s a few hundred people on most days enjoying the closed pavement and there’s thousands more who unfortunately don’t have that free time anymore to have their soul invigorated because they’re still fighting their way to alternate transportation routes with added intersections added exhaust, added traffic, and yes, valuable time where they cannot invigorate their soul in such a luxurious neighborhood setting
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This is a closed road and NOT a park!
It is being steadily commercialized for private profit. We taxpayers have no voice in what goes on here.
The numerous problems (including the treatment of the animals aside), Ms. Katz must be very wealthy if she can pay the entry tax (not to mention parking fees for) this animal prison.
Despite tax funding, there have been no free days over the past few years that I have known about. I have always found it to be a sad place to visit.
It was free to see the pandas at the zoo in Washington. I can not say that it was a life changing experience, and I strongly believe that pandas should stay in their native habitat and not be used to garner income for a private business which leaches off of taxpayers!
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Well, what fails to be mentioned is the erasure of the meeting with Lucas Lux and Todd David (YIMBY activist) on Engardio’s official calendar which has resulted in him being found by the initial ethics subcommittee of violating the transparency regulations and recommending a full investigation by the full committee. Conveniently this meeting was just before Prop K was filed and potentially embarrassing. Even more conveniently some unnamed faceless intern is being blamed for this erasure. Also what fails to be mentioned is the use of bond funds meant to be used for capital expenditures being used illegally by Phil Ginsberg to do the work at the “park” (ie hammocks, octopus, “art”) before he conveniently left as head of SF Park and Rec after the implosion of the SF Parks Alliance. Despite claiming he knew nothing about the mishandling of funds he made sure that Park and Rec got their money FIRST before the many small nonprofit organizations who had parked their project funds with the Park Alliance even knew that their money was gone. The author also fails to mention that pedestrians have easily walked along the ALREADY EXISTING pathway that was used for decades with even better views of the beach and ocean because it’s more elevated. Also what fails to be mentioned is the false statement by Lucas Lux’s organization advertising the Halloween Haunt as being accessible to the disabled along 5-6 entrances to the “park” which was blatantly false as proven by numerous photographs of the conditions of those supposedly accessible entrances. They had to withdraw those advertisements and statements. 64.7% of the Sunset voted to recall Engardio, similar to the no vote on closing the Great Highway with Prop K. Lurie was neutral on Prop K and did not endorse it. Ginsberg is now gone, along with Engardio. The political support for the “park” is ebbing away.
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Another Sunset Dunes fluff piece — I’ve honestly lost count. This paper has published nearly a dozen “ode to Engardio” letters this past year, all recycling the same talking points while ignoring the very real harm this project caused Sunset residents.
“Privileged leisure over public function.” That’s exactly what this whole Sunset Dunes lovefest represents. Paula’s letter gushes about how she enjoys walking there — as if her personal pleasure outweighs the daily hardship of thousands who lost a vital coastal artery. She calls the closure an “inconvenience,” but for working people, seniors, caregivers, delivery workers, and the disabled, it’s not just an inconvenience. It’s a daily misery imposed on those who can least afford it: hours lost in traffic, being chewed out at work for being late, families spending more time in traffic than enjoying time together at home, and delayed emergency response times.
Let’s be clear: Sunset Dunes isn’t some uplifting civic vision. It’s a symbol of San Francisco’s moral drift, where feel-good leisure for a few now outweighs the daily needs of thousands. The city sold a false promise — claiming $1.7 million would be saved, bypassing environmental review (CEQA), ignoring the Western Shoreline Plan’s requirement to maintain the highway, and pitching it as a “park” to people who’ll never sit in Sunset traffic.
The facts speak for themselves (Steven Hill, 48Hills):
Sunset Dunes isn’t a vision for the future. It’s a monument to how far San Francisco has drifted from basic fairness and function celebrating privileged leisure while public function collapses.
https://48hills.org/2021/09/the-great-highway-shutdown-fiasco/
https://thevoicesf.org/great-highway-robbery/
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Paula: “I like my new local park. It’s a nice place to walk.”The Same Handful of Sunset Beacon Commenters Who Do This Every Time: *weird
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I recently moved from the Sunset to the Mission but cycle through Sunset Dunes a couple afternoons a week. Even mid-week there are many hundreds of folks out recreating. Angry West-side residents are embarrassing themselves with their non-stop apoplectic response to the change of use. The continual bleating about “Engardio’s lies” and “billionaire developers” is tired. They are unable to come to terms with the facts: their commutes were already going to be interrupted with the impending closure of Great Highway between Sloat and Skyline as part of the Ocean Beach Climate Change Adaptation Project. Let me repeat since west-side folks can’t seem to hear this – THE ROAD WAS GOING TO BE CLOSED ANYWAY.
Get a grip West-siders – you live in a CITY, not the suburbs. San Franciscans voted to turn the road into a park and you need to come to terms with the result of that democratic process. If the change to your commute has been so drastic that it’s ruining your life, maybe it’s time to take a deep breath, unclench your steering wheel, and reevaluate your priorities. Your health will be better for it.
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Funny how a “Mission outsider” seems to know so much about Sunset life. Does he even know what it’s like to live here as a working parent or a caregiver for elderly relatives? Hundreds of mid-week walkers don’t erase the reality that over 18,000 cars are now being forced through residential streets every day. Working parents and caregivers are spending more time stuck in traffic than enjoying time at home. Emergency response is slowed, deliveries are snarled, and daily routines have been upended but somehow pointing that out makes us “angry West-siders”?
Let’s be clear: the “road was going to be closed anyway” claim is misinformation. The Ocean Beach Climate Project affects the section south of Sloat the extension part near the sewage treatment plant, not the stretch through the Sunset. This closure was a misguided choice (not an act of nature) and it’s our community paying the price.
Mocking frustrated residents and telling them to “take a deep breath” shows zero empathy for people who must use their cars. We’re not villains, we’re neighbors who lost something essential to our daily lives. It’s frustrating watching outsiders parachute in for a bike ride, call it “progress,” and then lecture us about democracy while we live with the consequences of bad policy.
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Guess what – I’m a working parent. Guess what – my family has shaped our lives so that our car use is infrequent. If you’re using your car every day and your car is not essential to doing your job tasks, then I’d wager you’re making a “misguided choice.” Have you for a moment given thought to how you could be less dependent on your car? Believe it or not after decades of indoctrinated American car culture, driving a car is a choice. Do you believe in climate change? Did you know that car use is responsible for a 1/3 of SF’s carbon pollution, more than any other metric? https://www.sfenvironment.org/carbonfootprint
What was lost that was so essential to your life? 10 minutes extra time in the car? Where is all this residential traffic from “18,000 cars?” What corner and at what time of day can I go observe this? From reports that I’ve read, traffic has stabilized and is not proving to be an issue.
Your response to my pointing out the road was going to be closed anyway doesn’t refute my point. The major complaint about the road closure is that it forces GH traffic to 19th or Sunset. That interruption was going to happen anyway because of the Ocean Beach Climate Change Adaptation Project. So again – the road was going to be closed anyway.
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hey Justin,
that whole “if I can do it, so can you” thing isn’t actually true. we’re all living different lives, and you don’t know what stuff other people have to deal with. walk a mile in my shoes before you talk.
btw, you didn’t really make a great case for Sunset dunes either.
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(Sorry this site’s nesting is wonky, I am replying to Justin who thinks other people don’t have the right to make personal transportation choices.)
‘If you’re using your car every day and your car is not essential to doing your job tasks, then I’d wager you’re making a “misguided choice.”’
-At least you admit it’s someone else’s life to make choices in, not yours?
Or are you tacitly trying to take control of their choices?
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Astroturf is what this is.
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