On November 5, voters in San Francisco approved the city’s newest parkA transformation of the southern end of the Great Highway. But the fight over that stretch of road appears to be turning into a political battle and a possible recall.
“I think we can build it like the Highline, where you can have so many different experiences along the way,” said park supporter Nancy Jodaitif. “And more opportunities to build community, and that’s what we need to do now.”
For supporters of San Francisco’s newest park, it was a day to reflect on the future of this space as they celebrated the victory of the ballot measure that will make it possible.
“The voters have spoken,” District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar told the crowd.
“This victory parade is really very insensitive,” said Park opponent Alyse Ceirante. ‘This is just unpleasant. This is rubbing our faces in it.”
The victory party also showed that the battle for Proposition K is not over yet. Outnumbered opponents showed up to protest the celebration.
“I felt really uncomfortable with the fact that they were exaggerating what we were saying,” Jodaitif said. “And I think we should also listen to what they say.”
The divide on the highway mirrors the divide in the city, with many on the purple west side feeling the vote itself was unfair.
“The residents of the Sunset District are still processing what happened,” Ceirante said. “We are still processing the betrayal of our supervisor Joel Engardio.”
“People who live near Ocean Beach, people who live all over the Sunset, came together and came up with this idea to create something, a better use of this road that is losing its greatest use,” said District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio . “And so they came to me with this idea and I supported it. I believe in it. I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s good for the sunset and good for San Francisco.”
Engardio says supporting the park was simply the right decision. And like removing the Embarcadero Freeway, he says history will prove him right.
But in the short term, social media erupted with angry park opponents and the regulator was the central target.
That anger is now turning into political motivation. Just as people were gathering on the beach, another group gathered at a restaurant on the boardwalk to discuss the start of a recall.
They did not want to appear on television, but to start the process of organizing what could be the next battle over the Great Highway.
“Oh absolutely,” Ceirante said. “I 100% support a recall.”
Does Engardio worry that people will be so angry about this that it could even cost him his seat?
“People have a lot of concerns and valid concerns about the traffic and I think once they see the implementation and how the traffic is going, maybe people will see the benefit of the park and so that’s the goal,” Engardio told KPIX. “We just need people to see the potential and we can address the traffic issues. And once people see that this park is useful, I think people will come.”
What about the new park, now that it has been approved by voters? Well, the Coastal Commission still has to approve the closure, and some neighbors say they will take their complaints to that location.
But the highway is now in the hands of San Francisco Recreation and Parks, and they expect to permanently close the gates to traffic sometime early next year.
Wilson Walker
