Divide Over SF’s Great Highway Closure Sparks Recall Push Against Supervisor

Updated 12:40 p.m. Tuesday

It’s official: Westside San Francisco residents upset by Supervisor Joel Engardio’s support for Proposition K, which permanently closes part of the Great Highway to vehicle traffic, will seek to remove him from office.

Richard Corriea and Vin Budhai, members of the group Open the Great Highway, filed a recall petition letter on Tuesday morning with the city’s Department of Elections alleging that Engardio broke his promises to voters and “has failed to represent [District 4] residents.” Budhai said the group’s website went live on Monday and has gathered over 80 signatures so far.

“He didn’t listen to the voters and made promises when he was running for election that he would leave the Great Highway the way it is,” Budhai said. “If someone gets into office and randomly changes their mind, they should be held accountable.”

The recall proponents accused Engardio of “failing to consult” with his constituents, saying he has catered “to a small group while ignoring the voices of the people who elected him.” They believe closing the Upper Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard will create “traffic chaos” by rerouting thousands of cars into neighborhoods.

Mike Regan, who lives in District 7 just to the east and attended the recall letter drop-off, said the highway closure would cause major traffic delays to his doctor appointments a couple of times a week at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

“I use the Great Highway to get to them, and when they close it down it’s going to cost me an extra 15 to 20 minutes a day to get to my doctor’s appointments,” he said, wearing an Open the Great Highway shirt. “They just disenfranchised a lot of people who use the highway.”

Engardio has argued that creating new traffic flows with stoplights could alleviate some of the neighborhood’s traffic worries. In a statement on Tuesday, he said he supported Proposition K because “it solves unavoidable concerns about the environment and what to do with a precious coast that belongs to all” and because “the people of San Francisco should be able to directly determine the future of their coastline.”

He acknowledged that most Sunset voters opposed the measure and said that after talking to hundreds of constituents in the last month, he heard “loud and clear … a need to address neighborhood traffic and street safety concerns.”

Budhai said the highway could close as early as the first quarter of 2025, which helped fuel his desire for the recall. Engardio’s term is set to end in 2027.

“None of the traffic mitigations or whatever have been put into place yet,” Budhai said. “It’s just a giant experiment while the Great Highway closes. And we’ll just see what happens with the 20,000 cars that use it almost daily and see how they traverse the neighborhood.”

Westside residents in Districts 1, 4, 7 and 11 — encompassing the Richmond, Sunset and Excelsior neighborhoods — voted overwhelmingly against Proposition K, with only 39% in favor and 61% opposed. The results were the opposite across the rest of the city to the east, with a 64% yes vote to 36% no.

“We have a supervisor that disenfranchised his district. Is there a better case for a recall?” said Correia, also with the group Open the Great Highway. “Recalls are complicated and give us all pause for mixed feelings about them. I can say for myself and the people that I’ve talked to that this is the right time for a recall.”

Budhai said the recall campaign has three months to gather at least 9,900 District 4 voters’ signatures to put a recall measure on the ballot. If the group collects enough signatures, the Department of Elections will hold a special election in the district.

Other westside residents who supported Proposition K said it would protect the beach, dunes and coastal neighborhoods from erosion from extreme storms, flooding and future sea-level rise. The two-mile stretch of the highway has been closed up to 65 times per year since 2020 due to windblown sand, which costs the city $1.7 million yearly to clear, according to the proposal.

“This stretch of road is closed a lot to cars because the sand blows on the road, and it’s not safe for cars to drive, which is part of what makes it an unreliable road,” said Heidi Moseson, who has lived along the lower Great Highway for 15 years.

Dec. 3: Recall organizers gave an updated figure for the number of signatures they have to gather after getting clarification from the Department of Elections. They will need at least 9,900 District 4 voters’ signatures, not 7,510.