“First, we’ll close the Great Highway, and then we’ll repave 19th! While all of that a is going on, we will have concert after concert after concert in Golden Gate Park while charging for parking seven days a week. What a great plan.”
David Chiu, as president of the Board of Supervisors, presided over some of the public hearings that were held from 2012 to 2014 and clearly favored the groups that were in favor of artificial turf fields as a review of the videos of those meetings shows.
As a native of the Richmond District, I’ve spent the better part of my life observing the fragile ecosystems along our City’s shoreline. I’d like to respond to the nonsense claim made by Raymond Wong that the Sunset Dunes park is harming the already threatened Western Snowy Plover.
After campaigning for “Yes on K” with images of the vulnerable western snowy plover to evoke sympathy and win votes, (Engardio) has now turned his back on both the bird and the Sunset community. His last-minute plan to rebrand the closed stretch as “Sunset Dunes,” with zero community input, is not just misguided – it’s dangerous.
I raised concerns about the City’s proposed project at 1234 Great Highway, a $200 million beachfront subsidized housing complex for a 50/50 mix of seniors and formerly un-housed seniors. The actual cost will approach nearly $2 million per unit when you factor in construction, financing, long-term maintenance and staffing.
This isn’t just about closing a road. It’s about removing vital infrastructure without a clear plan, while ignoring the voices of the communities most affected.
My first visit to Sunset Dunes was a remarkable experience. It doesn’t feel like a road anymore – it feels like an open-air community center. Kids riding bikes, couples walking hand in hand, seniors strolling with an ocean view.
Our documentary, “The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & The Art of Survival,” will be screening at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco on May 27, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Don’t let a disagreement over a single vote undo decades of environmental and community building progress. Do not sign onto the misguided recall.
Sunset residents deserve answers about who is really running this recall campaign now and how petition signatures will be used by this sudden new leadership. Why have the Sunset grassroots leaders who have been in this fight since the beginning suddenly been replaced by progressive Chesa supporters?
Engardio governs like a tech CEO chasing buzz – pushing updates, optimizing headlines, and treating constituents like KPIs in a growth funnel. His politics weren’t shaped in town halls but cloned from pitch decks. High on optics, low on usable code.
San Francisco’s new puritans are easily recognizable. Unlike the original puritans, who hid their bodies in long woolen clothes, our puritans wear spandex. To be accepted by these elitist puritans, “thou must own a very expensive bike.”
I took my dog for a walk at Golden Gate Park today and stopped by the Blue Heron Lake Boat House to buy a drink. I looked at the T-shirts and was struck by how boring and indistinctive “Blue Heron” Lake is. How – and more importantly, why – does an iconic San Francisco landmark have such a generic name?
This isn’t about politics. It’s about honesty. It’s about holding someone accountable who ran on our pain and hopes, only to turn his back once elected. We deserve better. We deserve a voice. We deserve the chance to vote on whether he still deserves to represent us.
Supervisor Engardio’s position on the Great Highway closure does NOT justify a recall. While I disagreed with him on Prop. K, I also know him to be honest, hard-working and dedicated to the needs of our district as well as our City.
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 