SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — One of San Francisco’s largest Halloween events returned on Sunday. Sunset Dunes Park hosted the Great Hauntway. The park, of course, used to be the Great Highway.
That piece of history is a spooky topic right now with residents.
No amount of wind or rain could keep away trick-or-treaters.
Emily Toy, an Outer Sunset resident, said, “It’s so fun for the kids. This is our third year, I think.”
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Daly City resident Dana Martinez Moles said, “We come every year. We have family that live in the Sunset. And it’s just great to see the costumes. San Francisco does Halloween right.”
Sunset Dunes is one of the city’s newest and most controversial parks.
It’s the first year that Sunset Dunes is hosting the event.
When asked what she thinks, Martinez Moles said, “I’m not going to share my thoughts on having a park. We are happy to be here today and surely glad it’s open to everyone on the weekends to enjoy.”
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Last year, voters passed Prop K, which made way for the closure of part of the Great Highway and the creation of the park.
It also triggered a recall effort against Supervisor Joel Engardio, who supported the park and who was ousted last month. Now some residents are also taking aim at the park in hopes of reopening the Great Highway to traffic.
Outer Sunset resident Jessie Pettway said, “You know, it’s going to be what it’s going to be. And I support it either way. I do enjoy the open space. It’s fun. But again, traffic gets congested.”
It’s been a tough controversial issue. When asked if she thinks there’s room for everyone to come together on it, Outer Sunset resident Amanda Gabriel said, ” I do. I think that we can come to a compromise, possibly.”
Those making a push to reopen the highway maintain the closure is inconvenient for commuters and sends too much traffic into neighborhood streets.
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Richmond District Supervisor Connie Chan has floated the idea of a ballot measure that would ask voters if they support going back to the previous model, which kept the highway open to cars on the weekdays and closed it to vehicles on weekends to be used as a park.
Gabriel said, “I think that once we see how many really nice events we can have here, that some people may change their mind. And I think that there are some solutions for the traffic and that that’s important for some people.”
Meanwhile, the crowd on Sunday’s main focus was on celebrating the spooky season.
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