The endless saga surrounding the Great Highway — San Francisco’s version of “War and Peace” — is about to get another bloody chapter.
A group of west-side residents tied to the 2025 recall movement against former Sunset Supervisor Joel Engardio is taking over the campaign to reopen two miles of the coastal highway to cars on weekdays.
Their effort began Tuesday, just as the clock wound down on Supervisor Alan Wong’s effort to secure support from board colleagues to put the Great Highway issue back on the ballot. Wong gave up the push after failing to convince a minimum of three supervisors to lend their signatures to his proposal for a June voter referendum to overturn Proposition K.
Jamie Hughes, a leader of the Engardio recall and the spokesperson for the new campaign, said Tuesday that his group will file paperwork with the city to start gathering signatures for a November voter initiative that would return the Great Highway to a state of “compromise”: open to car traffic on weekdays and to pedestrians, skaters, and cyclists on weekends.
“Supporters of the closure have continued to gaslight residents into thinking this is working while wasting unapproved taxpayer dollars and ignoring the unsafe conditions this has brought to the west side,” Hughes said. “San Francisco voters are looking for a sensible solution to this issue.”
He dismissed the effort from Wong, who was appointed by Mayor Daniel Lurie at the end of November.
“Supervisor Wong campaigned citywide multiple times and never did anything to support this effort,” Hughes said. “He made an unserious last-minute attempt, solely to benefit his supervisor campaign. Unfortunately for many of us counting on him, he flunked his first test of leadership. The ‘at least I tried’ act is not good enough.”
Wong met with reporters in his office on Tuesday night to emphasize his commitment to the issue. He declined to say whether he will support a citizen-led initiative.
“Ultimately, we were not able to get enough signatures. I am disappointed with the results,” Wong said. “Our office did our best to advocate for our constituents.”
Two supervisors, Richmond representative Connie Chan and District 11’s Chyanne Chen, had agreed to back his proposal.
Supervisor Alan Wong shows that he received two signatures from his colleagues, Connie Chan and Chyanne Chen. | Source: Han Li/The Standard
Richard Corriea, a retired police captain and a leader of the Engardio recall effort, will serve as principal officer of the new campaign.
“Alan Wong began slow-walking this issue the minute he took office and had no intention of truly supporting it from Day One,” Corriea said. “He may want west-side voters to give him an A for effort, but that’s disingenuous.”
The effort continues a four-year battle over the Great Highway’s future. It adds to a deepening divide between the city’s urbanist activists, who want more green space and bike lanes, and those who rely on cars.
The city first closed the road to cars during the pandemic to create recreational space. In 2021, cars were allowed back during the week while the road was turned over to pedestrians on weekends. A 2022 ballot measure to reopen the highway to cars failed before supervisors voted to keep its dual status (opens in new tab)through 2025.
The board then put Prop. K on the ballot to allow voters to decide the road’s fate. The measure passed in November 2024 with 55% of the vote, but west-side neighborhoods rejected it, including 63% of voters in District 4, where the two-mile stretch is located. This prompted a revolt against Engardio, who had championed Prop. K and was ousted in a September recall election.
The campaign to overturn Prop. K must collect roughly 10,000 valid signatures, according to the Department of Elections (opens in new tab). Unlike the process to qualify the Engardio recall, which was limited to D4 voters, the campaign can collect signatures citywide.
It will be an uphill battle. The highway will have been closed for almost a year, and Sunset Dunes, the park that was built there, is thriving (opens in new tab), according to the Recreation and Parks Department. The California Coastal Commission has approved the road’s closure, and a lawsuit challenging Prop. K was rejected by a San Francisco judge in early January.
Any effort to overturn Prop. K, whether through a signature-led initiative or via the Board of Supervisors, would face fierce opposition from park advocates.
“Today is an opportunity for the park opponents to come to terms with a democratic outcome and join us in planning the future of our collective park,” said Lucas Lux, president of Friends of Sunset Dunes. “We’re disappointed but not surprised that instead they are choosing to waste further resources in their attempt to rip out one of the city’s most used parks. We look forward to San Franciscans telling the anti-park zealots no for the umpteenth time.”