Engardio recall ballots are sent to 50,000 Sunset voters. What to know about Prop. A

<div class="content-grid article-content"><div class="Metadata_container__fxAzw"><div class="Metadata_metadata__W_0LF"><span>By <a class="" href="https://sfstandard.com/author/han-li/">Han Li</a></span><time datetime="2025-08-14T13:00:00.000Z">Published Aug. 14, 2025 • 6:00am</time></div></div><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">More than 50,000 voters in the Sunset will receive ballots this week for the Sept. 16 special election to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio, whose support for closing the Great Highway to create a park ignited a <u><a data-post-id="ebc35606-6d12-4192-b2e8-dfbb3aa06fa1" href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/10/02/great-highway-controversy-race-class/">political firestorm</a></u> on the city’s west side.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The recall, one of the city's most contentious political issues in recent years, will appear on the ballots as Proposition A. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">While the election is limited to District 4 residents, the recall is about more than one neighborhood’s political feud. It reflects a <u><a data-post-id="fa4db61c-370f-40be-898c-a15e8a7489f0" href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/07/19/san-francisco-great-highway-closure-ballot-measure-cars/">broader ideological and lifestyle debate</a></u> in San Francisco between drivers who rely on vehicle access and urban advocates for bicyclists, pedestrians, and public transit.  </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Jason McDaniel, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said Engardio’s survival will depend less on changing voters’ minds than on getting a critical mass of supporters to the polls.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“There’s not much he can do to dissuade people who are against the park,” McDaniel said. “So it’s going to be about turning out others who like the park and who don’t care as much about [the road closure].”</p></div><h2 class="heading-block article-body text-left"><b>How did Prop. A get on the ballot?</b></h2><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Engardio and <u><a href="https://www.sf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-08/Legal%20Text%20--%20Reserving%20the%20Upper%20Great%20Highway%20as%20Public%20Open%20Recreation%20Space.pdf">four other supervisors</a></u> wrote Proposition K for the November 2024 ballot. The successful measure closed a portion of the Great Highway to cars and converted the four-lane roadway to a park, which opened this spring as Sunset Dunes. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The road had already been closed to cars during the weekends for pedestrian use; the permanent park has since attracted <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DKKc22wpgEm/">tens of thousands of visitors</a>, according to city officials. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">During a Wednesday San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laVGhlOZORc">endorsement hearing for Prop. A</a>, Engardio said the park is good for the environment and has benefitted local businesses while creating "joy" for generations of San Franciscans. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“Prop. K was decided by voters in the most open, transparent, and democratic process possible,” Engardio said. “Sunset Dunes has become one of the most visited parks in San Francisco, so let's turn our focus on more pressing matters facing our city and nation." </p></div><figure class="ImageBlock_ImageFigure__ZnquR inset-image mobile-grid-full mobile-grid-full" data-align="none"><div class="relative"><div><img alt='Three men stand on a beach, one holding a "RECALL ENGARDIO" sign in yellow and black, another taking a photo, and the third holding a coffee cup.' class="block lazyloaded" data-nimg="1" decoding="async" height="2001" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1001px) 600px, (min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S3840x2561-FPNG" srcset="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S640x427-FPNG 640w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S750x500-FPNG 750w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S768x512-FPNG 768w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S828x552-FPNG 828w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S1024x683-FPNG 1024w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S1080x720-FPNG 1080w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S1200x800-FPNG 1200w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S1920x1281-FPNG 1920w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S2048x1366-FPNG 2048w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_jvh46c82jp1clbthjbts8sdd56/-S3840x2561-FPNG 3840w" style="color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 3000 2001'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=='/%3E%3C/svg%3E&quot;)" width="3000"/></div></div><figcaption class="basis-full mt-[10px] text-xs text-gray-550 font-inter leading-[18px]">Recall supporters were outraged at the Great Highway's closure.<span class="image-caption-divider"> | </span><span class="image-credit"><span class="sr-only">Source: </span>Autumn DeGrazia/The Standard</span></figcaption></figure><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Engardio, a moderate Democrat who rose to power after supporting the successful recalls of three school board members and former District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022, underestimated opposition to Prop K. in his district.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The measure passed with 55% of the citywide vote but was supported by only 36% of voters in District 4. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The political fallout was swift. Organizers who had opposed Prop.  K <u><a data-post-id="42c863ed-e6a3-403d-9de9-9f3d4d44d361" href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/12/03/recall-campaign-joel-engardio-prop-k-great-highway/">launched an effort to recall</a></u> Engardio soon after the election and <u><a data-post-id="68d66eb2-3b3b-4e73-bc1a-a70b4f16ead6" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/01/22/great-highway-recall-signature-gathering-joel-engardio/">spent four months</a></u> gathering the necessary 9,911 signatures to qualify it for the ballot. The Department of Elections <u><a data-post-id="f2e23231-2f10-40a3-835a-157ca212afed" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/29/joel-engardio-supervisor-recall-september/">called for a special election</a></u> in May after certifying those signatures.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“Engardio refused to listen and ignored the voices of the very people who elected him to office,” Jamie Hughes, the recall campaign’s leader, said in a statement to the DCCC. “It was a betrayal that was felt deeply across the entire Sunset district.”</p></div><h2 class="heading-block article-body text-left"><b>Who’s supporting the recall?</b></h2><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Supporters of the recall include a long list of independent District 4 residents, along with the Chinese American Democratic Club, the San Francisco Republican Party, and retired judges Quentin Kopp, Lillian Sing, and Julie Tang.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">“[Engardio] failed his only job, which is to listen to represent the district,<b>”</b> Selena Chu, a Sunset resident and vice president of the Chinese American Democratic Club, said during the DCCC endorsement hearing. “I am very disappointed. This is not someone who's willing to work with the district.”</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The recall campaign has raised roughly $260,000, according to campaign finance records, with many of those donations from residents of the city’s west side. The latest campaign filing shows that the recall campaign has more than $142,000 in debt and $64,000 cash on hand. </p></div><h2 class="heading-block article-body text-left"><b>Who’s opposing it?</b></h2><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Engardio has secured a<u><a href="https://www.stoptheengardiorecall.com/endorsements2"> broad coalition of high-profile supporters</a></u> who are fighting to keep him in office, including state Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Bilal Mahmood, Danny Sauter, Stephen Sherrill, and Board President Rafael Mandelman.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">YIMBY groups, environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, a handful of local unions, and LGBTQ+ advocates are also backing Engardio.</p></div><figure class="ImageBlock_ImageFigure__ZnquR inset-image mobile-grid-full mobile-grid-full" data-align="none"><div class="relative"><div><img alt="" class="block lazyloaded" data-nimg="1" decoding="async" height="2001" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1001px) 600px, (min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S3840x2561-FPNG" srcset="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S640x427-FPNG 640w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S750x500-FPNG 750w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S768x512-FPNG 768w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S828x552-FPNG 828w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S1024x683-FPNG 1024w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S1080x720-FPNG 1080w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S1200x800-FPNG 1200w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S1920x1281-FPNG 1920w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S2048x1366-FPNG 2048w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_s1fbl6apkp18he0tejq1de1h4g/-S3840x2561-FPNG 3840w" style="color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 3000 2001'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=='/%3E%3C/svg%3E&quot;)" width="3000"/></div></div><figcaption class="basis-full mt-[10px] text-xs text-gray-550 font-inter leading-[18px]">“Prop. K was decided by voters in the most open, transparent, and democratic process possible,” Engardio said.<span class="image-caption-divider"> | </span><span class="image-credit"><span class="sr-only">Source: </span>Autumn DeGrazia/The Standard</span></figcaption></figure><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The anti-recall campaign has raised more than $720,000. Top donors include crypto billionaire Chris Larsen, who poured $200,000 into the campaign, and Yelp cofounder Jeremy Stoppelman, who donated $175,000. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Others who’ve opened their pockets to defend Engardio include Twilio cofounder John Wolthuis, the San Francisco Police Officers Association, investor Ron Conway, and Y Combinator executive Garry Tan.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Those who have remained notably silent on the recall include Mayor Daniel Lurie, another centrist Democrat who has relied on Engardio’s vote to pass his policy priorities.</p></div><h2 class="heading-block article-body text-left"><b>How can you vote?</b></h2><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The Department of Elections sent the ballots to registered voters in District 4 on Thursday with a voter information pamphlet and a prestamped return envelope.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">John Arntz, director of the SF Department of Elections, said voters can return a ballot by mail; drop it off at one of three official drop boxes, at the Ortega Branch Library, Parkside Branch Library, and City Hall; or vote in person on Election Day at the district’s 20 polling places.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">Voters can track the status of their ballot on the city’s <u><a href="http://sfelections.gov/voterportal">voter portal</a></u>.</p></div><h2 class="heading-block article-body text-left"><b>What happens next?</b></h2><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">If Engardio survives the election, he will have to defend his seat again when he’s up for reelection next year. </p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">If voters remove him, Lurie will appoint an interim supervisor to Engardio’s spot on the board. That person would need to run again in 2026 to secure a full term.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The mayor’s office has been tight-lipped about whether it has started a behind-the-scenes search for potential replacements.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">But the recall comes at a critical time for Lurie. The mayor needs a majority vote on the 11-member Board of Supervisors to finalize his citywide upzoning plan, one of his top policy priorities for the year. The District 4 supervisor, whether it remains Engardio or becomes Lurie’s appointee, will play a key role in determining the fate of Lurie’s plan, as many west-side residents are opposed to adding multifamily housing to the area.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">The recall supporters have more to gain from the election than just removing Engardio. They hope that his ousting will pave the groundwork to stop progress on the Great Highway’s park conversion.</p></div><figure class="ImageBlock_ImageFigure__ZnquR inset-image mobile-grid-full mobile-grid-full" data-align="none"><div class="relative"><div><img alt="" class="block lazyloaded" data-nimg="1" decoding="async" height="2001" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 1001px) 600px, (min-width: 768px) 700px, 100vw" src="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S3840x2561-FPNG" srcset="https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S640x427-FPNG 640w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S750x500-FPNG 750w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S768x512-FPNG 768w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S828x552-FPNG 828w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S1024x683-FPNG 1024w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S1080x720-FPNG 1080w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S1200x800-FPNG 1200w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S1920x1281-FPNG 1920w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S2048x1366-FPNG 2048w, https://assets.sfstandard.com/image/994911177489/image_nr3cv348415vnfapap4rckjl60/-S3840x2561-FPNG 3840w" style="color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 3000 2001'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'/%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=='/%3E%3C/svg%3E&quot;)" width="3000"/></div></div><figcaption class="basis-full mt-[10px] text-xs text-gray-550 font-inter leading-[18px]">The Great Highway was once a critical transportation route for the west side but has since been converted to a popular park.<span class="image-caption-divider"> | </span><span class="image-credit"><span class="sr-only">Source: </span>Reza Tabesh for The Standard</span></figcaption></figure><div class="floats"><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">A lawsuit to overturn Prop. K <u><a data-post-id="63b90e9d-acb5-4fcf-af78-4fdceced16b3" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/03/10/prop-k-lawsuit-great-highway-closure/">is pending</a></u> at San Francisco Superior Court, while Supervisor Connie Chan, a critic of the road’s closure, has considered introducing a ballot measure to <u><a data-post-id="c79fe753-1ac6-415a-9ca8-bbebe4be491f" href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/09/great-highway-connie-chan-election/">reopen it to cars</a></u>.</p><p class="paragraph-block article-body undefined text-left">To move that proposal forward, Chan would need support from three other supervisors. If the Sunset ends up with a new representative, that vote could be their first — and probably most consequential — test.</p></div></div>

Engardio wants to spruce up Sunset Boulevard. Recallers say it’s ‘too little too late’


<p>Six weeks before a Sept. 16 recall election that could end his political career, San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio is scrambling for a win — any win — to show voters he’s worth keeping around.&nbsp;</p>



<p>During a press conference Monday in the overcast Outer Sunset, Engardio announced a $1.5 million plan to revitalize a 2-mile strip of Sunset Boulevard he has dubbed the Emerald Necklace. State and city funding will go toward installing a new irrigation system that replaces potable water with recycled water, and upgrading the landscaping.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>“We have this amazing natural beauty,” Engardio said at the event. “We can realize its full potential.”</p>



<p>Hundreds of trees and other landscaping that line Sunset Boulevard have suffered from years of drought, deferred maintenance, and outdated irrigation infrastructure, according to Engardio’s office.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The state provided $1 million to upgrade the irrigation system, and $500,000 from the city will support a dedicated landscape crew for mowing, weeding, plant and tree care, and irrigation upkeep.</p>



<p>Local residents have <a href="https://www.friendsofsunsetboulevardsf.org/">long pushed for the upgrades</a>, calling for more climate-resilient infrastructure along Sunset Boulevard to better withstand droughts.</p>



<p>State Sen. Scott Wiener, a staunch Engardio ally who spearheaded the state funding, said the upgrades will benefit the neighborhood. “As we make this investment, we&#8217;re going to see more Sunset residents, more families, really use it,” he said at the press conference.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1875" width="2500" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/img_9961.jpg?w=2500" alt="A group of people stand outdoors near a podium labeled &quot;Public Works.&quot; Trees and greenery are in the background, with some wearing professional attire and others in casual wear." class="wp-image-423810" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/img_9961.jpg 4032w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/img_9961.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/img_9961.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/img_9961.jpg?resize=2500,1875 2500w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/img_9961.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/img_9961.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Engardio announces the &#8220;Emerald Necklace&#8221; project Monday alongside other officials.</figcaption></figure>



<p>That support could be politically beneficial to Engardio, who is fighting to keep his job after outraging Sunset voters in November when he championed Proposition K, the ballot measure that transformed a portion of the Great Highway into the Sunset Dunes park.</p>



<p>The measure passed with 55% of the vote citywide but drew fierce opposition within Engardio’s west-side district, where 64% voted against it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-last-ditch-effort">A last-ditch effort?</h2>



<p>While Engardio’s supporters have raised $700,000 to fight the recall effort, more than three times as much as his opponents have raised, the supervisor faces a brutal fight to keep his job. Mayor Daniel Lurie has <a href="https://link.sfstandard.com/view/64c990adfdb9f77eaca92aa7obro1.1n1/972c4451">refused to take a position on the recall</a>; the local Democratic party has also not weighed in, leaving Engardio without much institutional backing.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Engardio denied that the Sunset Boulevard project was politically motivated, emphasizing that he has been working on it since taking office in 2023.</p>



<p>“I’ve been saying ‘Emerald Necklace’ to anyone who’s ever come into my office,” he said. “It’s been something I’ve been talking about for two and a half years.”</p>



<p>Jason McDaniel, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said it&#8217;s clear Engardio is trying to demonstrate to voters before the recall that he is focused on local issues.</p>



<p>“This press conference shows, ‘I’m doing things you want me to do, right?’” McDaniel said. “Even if we disagree on one issue, I’m still serving the district well in other ways.”</p>



<p>Monday’s event was not without political tension. Sunset resident Lisa Arjes, a recall supporter and an advocate for the Sunset Boulevard renovation, showed up to the event to distribute a statement thanking city leaders for taking action.</p>



<p>“We have advocated for eight years,” Arjes said in the statement. “It is good to see additional resources finally brought to bear on the completion of this project.”</p>



<p>But it’s not likely that Arjes and others who see the project as beneficial to the community will spare Engardio at the ballot box in September. Arjes has contributed $41,525 to the effort to oust the supervisor, making her the campaign’s biggest donor.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“He’s going to have a hard time surviving this,” said McDaniel. “Most politicians, once they’re on a recall ballot, it’s very difficult to defeat it.”</p>



<p>Jamie Hughes, who is leading the campaign to recall Engardio, said the Emerald Necklace is “too little too late.” He called it a last-ditch effort by a supervisor desperate to notch a political victory ahead of the recall.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>“This is a classic example of a politician trying to save face,” Hughes said. “It’s time for the sun to set on Joel Engardio as a supervisor.”</p>


Popular Sunset Night Market killed for 2025, thanks to bitter SF politics


<p>A popular night market in the Outer Sunset will not return this year amid blowback over the Great Highway’s closure.</p>



<p>The <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2023/04/03/asia-is-full-of-night-markets-san-francisco-may-have-one-this-summer/">Sunset Night Market</a> on Irving Street, which has drawn thousands since it launched two years ago, is not scheduled to return this summer, according to organizers and Supervisor Joel Engardio.&nbsp;</p>



<p>San Francisco’s notoriously ugly politics could be to blame.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Engardio, who spearheaded and helped secure city funding for the market, which was held in late August and late September last year, is facing a <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/29/joel-engardio-supervisor-recall-september/">September recall election</a> over his role in Proposition K, the ballot measure that permanently closed the Great Highway to cars and converted it into the park now known as Sunset Dunes.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Albert Chow, a supporter of the recall campaign and owner of Great Wall Hardware in the Sunset, said many in the business community have soured on the night market.</p>



<p>“[The merchants] just didn’t feel it this year,” Chow said. “Overall, there’s a sense that Engardio lacks leadership.”</p>



<p>Prop. K passed in November with more than 55% of the vote. But the measure was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in west-side neighborhoods such as the Richmond and Sunset, where more motorists relied on the highway.</p>



<p>Outrage over Engardio’s support for Prop. K came to a head in May, when the campaign to recall him submitted 10,523 valid signatures from voters in his district. A special election <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/29/joel-engardio-supervisor-recall-september/">on the recall is set for Sept. 16</a>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1560" width="2500" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_010.jpg?w=2500" alt="A bustling street fair with numerous white tents and a large crowd of people. The lively scene includes colorful booths and various storefronts on both sides." class="wp-image-306878" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_010.jpg 3594w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_010.jpg?resize=300,187 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_010.jpg?resize=768,479 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_010.jpg?resize=2500,1560 2500w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_010.jpg?resize=1536,958 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_010.jpg?resize=2048,1278 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Crowds throng the Sunset Night Market on Aug. 30, 2024.</figcaption></figure>



<p>That has made the night market politically radioactive and fueled speculation from Engardio supporters that recall proponents are intentionally scuttling the popular event to avoid handing the supervisor a win before the election.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Alice Liu, a Sunset resident and an Engardio supporter, said the night market has rebranded the otherwise sleepy neighborhood as a cool destination. She expressed anger at the recall campaign for disrupting the community and is asking the voters to vote against the recall.</p>



<p>“Losing the Sunset Night Market feels like a step backward,” said Liu. “It’s disappointing that a small group of angry people has caused so much chaos.”</p>



<p>Market organizers have <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QS6VECU8Xy3cUL3HpPrBPy0nt3GVPgYK/view?usp=sharing">proposed</a> using a smaller portion of the event’s funding to support and expand a <a href="https://sunsetmercantilesf.com/holidaysontaraval2024/">December tree-lighting festival</a>, and floated the idea of using the remaining money to relaunch a scaled-back version of the night market during the Lunar New Year.</p>



<p>Last September, a smaller night market<a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/09/17/night-market-ocean-beach-great-highway/"> was held at the Great Highway in conjunction with the bigger Irving Street events</a>. But it is unlikely to happen this year amid pushback from Ocean Beach merchants who have <a href="https://link.sfstandard.com/view/6436ea099b26044931999510my0ry.qa/976e7434">opposed all commercial activity in the area</a>.</p>



<p>Engardio told The Standard the night market is expected to restart in early 2026.</p>



<p>“Politics should not be part of the night market. It&#8217;s about bringing people together and creating joy,” the supervisor said. “At the end of the day, most people say they love the night market.”</p>



<p>Over the last two years, the markets have drawn tens of thousands of visitors to food and art vendors lined up along seven blocks of Irving Street.</p>



<p>The markets have served as a way to highlight the Sunset’s rich Asian food and cultural scenes with events such as a <a href="https://abc7news.com/post/abc7-news-anchor-dion-lim-throws-down-sfs-3rd-sunset-night-market-durian-eating-contest/15369028/">durian-eating contest</a> and an appearance last year by celebrity chef Martin Yan.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1667" width="2500" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_018.jpg?w=2500" alt="Two people grill skewers at an outdoor market. Smoke rises from the grills, and a crowd gathers nearby, mingling around vendor tents." class="wp-image-306886" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_018.jpg 5623w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_018.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_018.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_018.jpg?resize=2500,1667 2500w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_018.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240901-stinkytofu_018.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Khasan Mamatkhanov of Nafisa’s Table grills lamb skewers at the Sunset Night Market in 2024.</figcaption></figure>



<p>But politics have clouded the event. Engardio said some merchants and opponents of Prop. K threatened to boycott last year’s markets unless he withdrew his support for the measure.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Chow denied that recall supporters are plotting to kill the night market but accused Engardio of trying to take credit for it, saying it is a community-led initiative. Engardio countered that he has always emphasized his partnership with community groups.</p>



<p>The recall campaign against Engardio said the supervisor should blame himself for the cancellation of this year’s markets.</p>



<p>“This is just another failure by Supervisor Engardio,” Jamie Hughes, the campaign leader, told The Standard.</p>



<p>Lily Wong, lead organizer of the night market and director of the Sunset Chinese Cultural District, said more organizers wanted to scale back the event, which some contend has grown overwhelming since its 2023 start. She blamed San Francisco’s bureaucracy, noting that the 2024 city payments to event organizers didn’t arrive until this year, causing financial strain.</p>



<p>The city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development confirmed that it is reviewing the market’s current proposal and that $100,000 in funding is allocated to host the events. The agency also confirmed that last year’s funding, which amounted to $120,000, was disbursed in full by May.</p>



<p>Awadalla Awadalla, owner of Hole in the Wall Pizza on Irving Street and a prominent business leader in the Sunset, said it&#8217;s &#8220;very bad&#8221; that the night market is not coming back this year.</p>



<p>He pushed back on claims that business owners in the neighborhood aren&#8217;t interested in the market this year. Awadalla said the events put Irving Street “on the map” and drew people from across the city to the neighborhood.</p>



<p>“I felt betrayed,” Awadalla said. “I thought the night market was one of the best things to happen to the Sunset.”</p>


City official got paid by architecture firm while approving its projects


<p>A longtime San Francisco planning commissioner supported the development of at least two projects in the city by a well-known architecture firm from which she also receives income, according to city disclosure forms, an arrangement that appears to breach the city’s conflict of interest rules.</p>



<p>Kathrin Moore, who was appointed to the planning commission in 2006 and currently serves as the body’s vice president, has reported earning between $10,000 and $100,000 each year since 2012 from the global firm Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill, also known by the acronym SOM.</p>



<p>In a 2012 financial disclosure, Moore reported that she retired from the company in 1999 and described the income as a “retirement payment.” Since then, she has listed herself on the forms as a retired associate partner.</p>



<p>Meanwhile, Moore voted in September 2021 to approve the firm’s <a href="https://sfyimby.com/2022/02/som-designed-san-bao-temple-redesigned-and-approved-for-1750-van-ness-avenue-nob-hill-san-francisco.html">San Bao Temple</a> at 1750 Van Ness Ave. This May, she cast a vote supporting the company’s initial plans for a <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/06/25/related-california-office-development-jackson-square/">building</a> at 520 Sansome St./447 Battery St., a project still making its way through the commission.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1667" width="2500" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8907937419_housingmapsf_004.jpg?w=2500" alt="A person in a hat speaks at a podium in a wood-paneled room, addressing seated officials at a long desk. Laptops and flags add to the formal setting." class="wp-image-387286" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8907937419_housingmapsf_004.jpg 8059w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8907937419_housingmapsf_004.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8907937419_housingmapsf_004.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8907937419_housingmapsf_004.jpg?resize=2500,1667 2500w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8907937419_housingmapsf_004.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8907937419_housingmapsf_004.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The city&#8217;s seven-member planning commission has significant sway over the look and feel of the city&#8217;s development plans.</figcaption></figure>



<p>The city’s conflict of interest rules <a href="https://sfethics.org/laws/conflict-of-interest/conflict-of-interest-other-prohibited-activities-regulations-san-francisco-campaign-and-governmental-conduct-code-section-3-200-et-seq#:~:text=of%20general%20application.-,Regulation%203.214%2D4.%20Disclosure%20of%20Personal%2C%20Professional%20%26%20Business%20Relationships%20%E2%80%93%20Determining%20Whether%20an%20Individual%20has%20an%20Ownership%20or%20Financial%20Interest%20in%20the%20Subject%20of%20a%20Governmental%20Decision,-An%20individual%20has">prohibit</a> city officials, including planning commissioners, from making decisions that involve entities from which an individual has received more than $500 in the past year. The <a href="https://www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/conflicts-of-interest-rules.html">state</a> has similar regulations.</p>



<p>The seven-member commission advises the mayor and board of supervisors on land use, transportation, and development in the city and votes to approve project permits.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Sean McMorris, an ethics expert from the good governance nonprofit Common Cause, said Moore’s votes appear to be a conflict of interest because she was paid by the firm.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“If there is anything that you could presumably be involved in that even gives the appearance of enriching yourself, then you need to recuse yourself,” McMorris said. “That’s why we have conflict-of-interest laws. Our representatives work for us, not for themselves. The public trust is diminished when things like this happen.”</p>



<p>In an emailed statement received after this story&#8217;s publication, Moore defended her votes on Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill projects.</p>



<p>&#8220;Having retired as an Associate Partner of SOM in 1999, I receive a pension from SOM which I report on my annual public financial disclosure,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;In accordance with legal advice from the Office of the City Attorney given to me many years ago, because my pension is unconditional, I have been&nbsp;assured&nbsp;that there is no conflict of interest and do not need to recuse myself from voting on matters involving SOM. My fixed pension does not influence nor is&nbsp;it&nbsp;effected by how I render my decisions. I will continue to hold myself to the highest legal and ethical standards as I have since I first was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2006.&#8221;</p>



<p>An inquiry to Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill went unanswered. </p>



<p>During a May 15 hearing on the 520 Sansome St./447 Battery St. project, Moore thanked a Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill representative after his presentation and lauded the plans, saying they would positively impact the city’s beleaguered downtown.</p>



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<p>“This project addresses all the critical points, including the major investment of the <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/05/06/transamerica-pyramid-renovation-beacon/">refurbishing</a> of the Transamerica Pyramid,” she said. “I think you’re doing that very skillfully.”</p>



<p>During a September 2021 hearing to approve the Buddhist temple at 1750 Van Ness Ave., Moore similarly advocated for the Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill design.</p>



<p>“I am in full support of the project, and I consider the project thoughtful, and as one of the [public] speakers just said, inspirational,” Moore said. “I think it will be a wonderful addition.”</p>



<p>Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill is an internationally renowned firm behind <a href="https://www.som.com/">iconic buildings</a> such as 7 World Trade Center in New York, the Sears Tower in Chicago, and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building. Its San Francisco designs include One Maritime Plaza and the San Francisco International Airport trusses.</p>



<p>Lydia So, the planning commission’s president, said she was “shocked” to learn of Moore’s connection to the architecture firm and called for an investigation.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“We need to restore public trust in our government,” she said.</p>



<p>The Ethics Commission, which enforces the city’s conflict of interest rules, declined to comment.</p>



<p>“All complaints and enforcement matters are handled confidentially as required by the City Charter,” Michael Canning, the Ethics Commission’s policy and legislative affairs manager, said in a statement. “This requires that we do not disclose any information about any enforcement matters we may be handling, including if we have received a complaint or are carrying out an investigation.”</p>



<p>City officials <a href="https://sfethics.org/disclosures/city-officer-disclosure/notification-of-recusal">regularly</a> recuse themselves from votes due to conflicts of interest, actual or perceived. More than 20 city officials have withdrawn from government decisions this year, including a San Francisco Retirement Healthcare Trust Fund member who in June recused himself from a vote to invest in a company because he had worked there over a decade ago.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="2500" width="2186" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241112_smogday_aar_9_97746f.jpg?w=2186" alt="The image shows a dense cityscape with tall skyscrapers, including a shiny, cylindrical tower. Streets and lower buildings are visible in the foreground." class="wp-image-349056" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241112_smogday_aar_9_97746f.jpg 4191w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241112_smogday_aar_9_97746f.jpg?resize=262,300 262w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241112_smogday_aar_9_97746f.jpg?resize=768,878 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241112_smogday_aar_9_97746f.jpg?resize=2186,2500 2186w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241112_smogday_aar_9_97746f.jpg?resize=1343,1536 1343w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241112_smogday_aar_9_97746f.jpg?resize=1791,2048 1791w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2186px) 100vw, 2186px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The architecture firm Skidmore, Owings &amp; Merrill is behind multiple San Francisco projects, including One Maritime Plaza. </figcaption></figure>



<p>In 2023, Moore recused herself from approving a project on Taylor Street because she resides within 500 feet of the property.</p>



<p>Moore’s links to the architecture firm come to light amid recent turmoil that has shaken the planning commission.</p>



<p>Mission Local reported last month that three commissioners, including Moore, <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2025/06/walkout-planning-commission-san-francisco-lurie/">walked out of a closed-door meeting</a> to appoint a new planning director. The members said they left the meeting in protest over frustrations with Mayor Daniel Lurie’s process of choosing Sarah Dennis Phillips to lead the commission as director. Phillips was later <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/planning-director-sarah-dennis-phillips-20384050.php">confirmed</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Moore then <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2025/06/sf-planning-director-process-illegal-commission/">accused</a> So of violating a state law that requires local agencies to hold open meetings for public access.</p>



<p><em>Update: This story was updated with a response from Kathrin Moore.</em></p>


Newsom signs laws to pave the way for more housing. Is it a win for ‘abundance’ movement?


<p>Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed two housing reform bills to speed up development in California a week after fierce opposition from environmentalists and labor groups nearly tanked the legislation.</p>



<p>The housing measures were folded into the $321 billion state budget last week after Newsom said he would not sign the spending plan without the changes, which proponents say will make it easier to build new homes and infrastructure in some cases by circumventing the California Environmental Quality Act.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The bills will allow developers to bypass the law’s more rigorous environmental review process for certain housing projects in urban areas and will streamline the construction of new infrastructure ranging from clean water projects to health clinics.</p>



<p>&#8220;This is…the most consequential housing reform that we&#8217;ve seen in modern history in the state of California,” Newsom said Monday night <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbsNhNdUzsk">before signing the bills</a>. </p>



<p>Newsom said the changes would end the &#8220;abuses of the CEQA process&#8221; that have beleaguered cities for decades and help advance the &#8220;abundance&#8221; movement in California. </p>



<p>The measures, Assembly and Senate Bills <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB130">130</a> and <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB131">131</a>, still fall short of what many pro-housing and abundance advocates had hoped would be a total overhaul of CEQA.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1200" height="800" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/020624_no-place-like-home_cc_cm_31.webp?w=1200" alt="Man in hard hat walks through construction site with wooden structures in the foreground and background" class="wp-image-246736" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/020624_no-place-like-home_cc_cm_31.webp 1200w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/020624_no-place-like-home_cc_cm_31.webp?resize=300,200 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/020624_no-place-like-home_cc_cm_31.webp?resize=768,512 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">CEQA lawsuits can add significant costs and several years to a building project’s timeline.</figcaption></figure>



<p>That 1970 law was designed to safeguard residents against environmental harms, but critics often portray it as an overused tool to delay or block much-needed development.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Each of the two bills hit its own roadblock last week, sending lawmakers scrambling to meet a Friday deadline to send the budget to Newsom before the fiscal year starts Tuesday.</p>



<p>In the Assembly, opposition erupted after Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) added minimum-wage requirements to her bill, which eases restrictions on housing in cities and other developed areas.</p>



<p>That change set off a political brawl between <a href="https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/prevailing-wage-construction-california-ab130/">already warring construction unions</a>, with one side arguing that the minimum-wage rules would protect workers and the other adamant that they would unleash rampant exploitation at job sites.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The feud left Democrats panicking over which side to take. Wicks decided not to include most of the wage requirements in the final version of the bill, easing its path to Newsom’s desk while leaving the major housing changes intact.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“It is too damn hard to build housing and all the other things that we care about,&#8221; Wicks said. &#8220;We told the world we are ready to be open for business — the business of building housing.&#8221;</p>



<p><a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB131">The Senate bill</a>, which focuses on infrastructure projects, hit similar resistance from a coalition of environmental groups that see CEQA as an important protection against rampant development.&nbsp;</p>



<p>State Sen. Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) initial version of the bill would have tackled some of the most controversial elements of CEQA by making it much harder for opponents of projects to file lawsuits.&nbsp;</p>



<p>CEQA lawsuits can add significant costs and several years to a project’s timeline, a hurdle that makes it nearly impossible for California to add the millions of new homes it needs, critics say.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“It’s not just projects that get blocked,” said Matthew Lewis, communications director for the pro-housing group California YIMBY. “It’s all the projects that never get proposed, because the proponents don’t have legal teams that they can fund and prepare to take on a CEQA challenge.”</p>



<p>Housing advocates —&nbsp;their confidence buoyed by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/30/abundance-democrats-building-shapiro-mamdani/">abundance movement</a> popularized by journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson —&nbsp;saw Wiener’s bill as a chance to kneecap CEQA’s power and pave the way for more housing and infrastructure in California.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Instead, a coalition of environmentalists, backed by sympathetic Senate Democrats, opposed the scope of the bill, and spent much of last week successfully negotiating for incremental changes to CEQA.</p>



<p>They argued the broad overhaul would “poison our air, water, and land across the state,” often pointing to a June poll of 600 likely voters that showed <a href="https://www.neighborhoodsfirstca.org/_files/ugd/c39e23_d6945c6c99e04b3da2bf0cc19d97a2c7.pdf">75% supported CEQA</a>, and 66% opposed changing the law as a way to allow developers to build housing.</p>



<p>“This half-baked policy written behind closed doors will have destructive consequences for environmental justice communities and endangered species across California,” Jakob Evans,&nbsp;senior policy strategist with Sierra Club California, said in a statement. “It is extremely disappointing that California’s leadership is taking notes from the federal administration by ramming through this deregulation via the budget process.”</p>



<p>The bills still include some limits on CEQA lawsuits. But the major differences now add a variety of CEQA exemptions for infrastructure projects such as clean water and broadband, child-care centers, food banks, and health clinics, among others that meet certain criteria.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The bill also allows projects that narrowly miss a CEQA exemption to fast-track development by focusing the environmental review process more specifically on the disqualifying factors. And it aims to make it easier for cities such as San Francisco that have submitted state-approved housing plans to meet those goals by shielding them from duplicative CEQA reviews.</p>



<p>UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf said, taken together, the two bills could make it far easier to build housing in a state that needs millions more units.&nbsp;</p>



<p>But, he added, CEQA is only “one piece” of the problem. Restrictive zoning rules, high development fees, and other requirements “will continue to be significant barriers” to construction even with the changes Newsom signed into law.</p>



<p>Even so, the new laws ignited a wave of celebrations among YIMBY advocates in California. </p>



<p>&#8220;It is so critically important for California to show that we can get things done, to make people&#8217;s lives better and more affordable,&#8221; Wiener said. &#8220;And that&#8217;s what these bills are about.&#8221; </p>


How SF government became a hulking, 34,800-person behemoth


<p>It’s a perennial complaint: San Francisco’s government is just too damn big.&nbsp;</p>



<p>That concern has come to the forefront in recent weeks after Mayor Daniel Lurie <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/28/san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-budget-layoffs/">proposed layoffs</a> in an effort to resolve a <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/30/san-francisco-budget-daniel-lurie-deficit-proposal/">historic budget deficit</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Salaries and employee benefits account for the largest chunk of city spending: 43% of the current budget. A <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2025/sf-city-employees/">recent analysis</a> found that San Francisco has the most public employees in core functions of any U.S. metropolis, even after detangling its unusual status as both a city and county.</p>



<p>Our workforce wasn’t always such a behemoth. The Standard analyzed City Hall’s growth over the past 20 years, revealing that it has far outpaced San Francisco’s population.</p>



<p>In 2005, the city employed 26,900 people, according to the Department of Human Resources. Twenty years later, it had 34,800, a 29% increase. During that time, the city’s population grew by 8%, from 780,000 in 2005 to 842,000 in 2025, according to the <a href="https://dof.ca.gov/forecasting/demographics/estimates/">California Department of Finance</a>.&nbsp;</p>



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<p>The mayor’s push to cut around 100 jobs would represent a thin slice of the city’s ballooning bureaucracy — just 0.29% of City Hall’s workforce. Lurie’s office, which also proposed slashing 1,000 unfilled roles, says the mayor is not focused on the number of employees but on prudent spending practices.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“It is really about, ‘How do we not spend money we don&#8217;t have?’&#8221; Sophia Kittler, the mayor’s budget director, said. On Thursday, a Board of Supervisors committee <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/06/26/san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-layoffs-negotiation-budget/">approved $15 million to avoid some</a> of Lurie&#8217;s layoffs. </p>



<p>The Standard contacted three dozen city departments to discuss why they have grown over the past two decades. Four major themes emerged: voter-approved ballot measures, new state and federal laws, and expanded city responsibilities and projects; additionally, as these factors swelled the ranks, more support personnel were needed to bolster the larger workforce.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-that-long-long-list-of-ballot-measures">That long, long list of ballot measures</h2>



<p>Successful ballot propositions have forced the city to beef up its staffing.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Take the <a href="https://www.sf.gov/reports--december-2024--about-our-city-our-home-fund">Our City, Our Home initiative</a>, which passed with 61% of the vote in 2018. The measure, also called Proposition C, imposed taxes on businesses to raise money for homelessness services. But raking in all that money requires more staff to administer it. From 2020 to 2025, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing nearly doubled in size, from 124 to 232 workers; a spokesperson attributed this in part to Prop. C. The additional personnel were needed to acquire city-owned housing sites and oversee grants, among other responsibilities.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Or consider the library system. In 2022, San Franciscans overwhelmingly voted to mandate that city libraries be open systemwide at least 1,400 hours per week. Today, San Francisco remains the only big city in California with all its library sites open seven days a week. To keep the lights on, library staffing grew by 23% from 2005 to 2025.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="1600" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_001b.png" alt="The image is a chaotic office scene with scattered papers, a desk, chair, keyboard, telephone, and various office supplies in pastel colors, creating a cluttered atmosphere." class="wp-image-413675" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_001b.png 1600w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_001b.png?resize=150,150 150w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_001b.png?resize=300,300 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_001b.png?resize=768,768 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_001b.png?resize=1536,1536 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_001b.png?resize=180,180 180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-outside-pressures">Outside pressures</h2>



<p>It isn’t just local lawmaking that has inflated San Francisco’s government. State and federal legislation also play a role in dictating City Hall’s size.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Just look at the Department of Public Health. A driver of its addition of around 1,800 employees in the past 20 years — the most of any city department —&nbsp;was the federal Affordable Care Act. Obamacare vastly expanded the number of people eligible for Medi-Cal, whose healthcare is <a href="https://www.ppic.org/blog/counties-are-key-partners-in-the-medi-cal-program/">provided by the department</a>. Since 2013, the number of San Franciscans enrolled in Medi-Cal has grown by more than 100,000, forcing the health department to add staff.&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>&#8216;It is really about, &#8220;How do we not spend money we don&#8217;t have?&#8221;&#8216;</p><cite>Sophia Kittler, the mayor’s budget director</cite></blockquote></figure>



<p>“As the primary safety-net health care system for the city, SFDPH has become the primary health home and has provided care to many of these new Medi-Cal recipients,” the department wrote in a statement.</p>



<p>That’s just the tip of the iceberg regarding staffing up to comply with outside regulations and programs. The Public Utilities Commission has brought on more staff due to new state water regulations, the city attorney’s office expanded to deal with updates to California’s conservatorship laws, and the Environment Department swelled as it absorbed Obama-era stimulus funding and California Energy Commission grants.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="1600" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png" alt="The image features an abstract, colorful illustration of multiple interconnected faces and figures, merging together with a playful, surreal style with pastel colors." class="wp-image-413676" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png 1600w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=150,150 150w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=300,300 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=768,768 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=1536,1536 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/sfstandard_spot_002b.png?resize=180,180 180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-services-more-staffers">More services, more staffers</h2>



<p>Many departments said they’re simply doing more to serve San Franciscans today than they were in years past.</p>



<p>The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency grew its staff by 11% in the past decade to improve service on city buses and trains, according to spokesperson Erica Kato. “Prior to 2019, we under-invested in transit maintenance, training, and supervision,” Kato said. “Muni reliability suffered.”&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>&#8216;We are just constantly growing. And not necessarily subtracting.&#8217;</p><cite>Nicole Neditch, a policy director at SF think tank SPUR</cite></blockquote></figure>



<p>Other government agencies have simply taken on more responsibilities.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The Department of Emergency Management, which has grown by 44% to 308 employees since 2005, became a sponsor for a <a href="https://www.bayareauasi.org/about-us">regional security program</a>, created a <a href="https://www.sf.gov/coordinated-street-response-program">coordinated street response division</a>, and is receiving 15.5% more 911 calls than it did in fiscal 2011-12, the earliest available data.</p>



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<p>The Fire Department has also been impacted by that 911 surge; it has staffed up to handle a near doubling of emergency services calls in the past 20 years, according to Chief of Staff Adrienne Sims.</p>



<p>The Recreation and Parks Department has also shouldered more responsibility as it has grown 11% to 952 workers from 856 two decades ago. During that period, the department added more parks to its purview, which required more staff to maintain. The department said the public has also asked for more staff to address vandalism and after-hours calls. That required hiring more park rangers: from 12 in 2005 to 55 today.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">More employees means … more employees</h2>



<p>As the workforce grows, so do the responsibilities of supporting agencies like the Ethics Department, which oversees financial disclosures and ethics enforcement of city employees. The department has 26 employees, representing a 160% increase since 2005.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The same goes for the Human Resources Department, which has grown by 53% (89 employees) since 2005.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Once you introduce new legislation, once you add a new department, once you add staff to a particular program, it is very difficult to take those pieces away,” said Nicole Neditch, a governance and economy policy director at the SF-based think tank SPUR. “We are just constantly growing. And not necessarily subtracting.”</p>


The Golden Gate Bridge is dangerously woke, CEO warns


<p>The head of the public agency that operates the <a href="https://sfstandard.com/tag/golden-gate-bridge/">Golden Gate Bridge</a> wants to rescind policies that discourage racism, sexual harassment, and implicit bias due to fears that the Trump administration will slash federal funding.</p>



<p>Denis Mulligan, CEO of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, issued a memo Friday that noted a provision in federal law could make grant recipients liable for returning funds and paying penalties if they’re found to be “promoting” <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/28/donald-trump-dei-san-francisco-diversity-equity-inclusion/">diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives</a>. </p>



<p>Rather than risk future funding, Mulligan is attempting to preemptively distance the agency from resolutions and a strategic plan that, in some cases, simply states that racism and discrimination are bad. Mulligan said he did not consult attorneys but initiated this direction on his own.</p>



<p>“Federal funds are vital for what we do, and we have an obligation to protect the bridge for future generations,” he told The Standard on Monday. “So, we’re taking this action out of an abundance of caution.”</p>



<p><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25981863-golden-gate-bridge-memo-denis-mulligan/">Mulligan’s memo</a> suggests rescinding a July 2020 resolution that “condemned racism” and committed to a workplace “safe and free of discrimination.” The resolution was passed in response to the racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Mulligan’s memo goes on to say that the resolution doesn’t violate federal law but does authorize “certain anti-discrimination efforts focused on specific racial groups and contains DEI language,” which could be flagged by federal officials.</p>



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<p>“The values of the organization have not changed, but what we are doing is protecting the certainty of federal funds that we rely upon for the bridge, as well as our buses and ferries,” Mulligan said.</p>



<p>The memo also recommends rescinding a January 2023 resolution that updated the agency’s procurement manual to include “social equity” in its considerations.</p>



<p>The CEO also wants to revise the agency’s 2024 strategic plan, because it contains “DEI language that could prompt scrutiny by the federal government.” The three issues Mulligan highlighted are prioritizing equity in transit service, particularly with an eye to impacts on underserved populations; studying the effectiveness of training staff on sexual harassment and implicit bias; and completing an advisory committee’s work on DEI recommendations.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Mulligan went so far as to say the words “implicit bias” should be removed from the strategic plan. The memo is expected to be discussed by the district’s board on Friday.</p>



<p>Supervisor Joel Engardio, who sits on the board, said it was the first time he had heard of the proposed rollback in policies.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“Rescinding resolutions that simply condemn racism and affirm dignity in the workplace would be deeply disappointing,” Engardio said in a statement Monday. “These commitments aren’t political — they&#8217;re moral. It should not be controversial to affirm that everyone deserves to feel safe, respected, and free from discrimination. The Golden Gate Bridge is a symbol of connection. Let’s not let it become a symbol of retreat.”</p>



<p>Mulligan told The Standard that the district, which also provides bus and ferry services, will be signing new agreements this year for a $400 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration. Mulligan said any interruption to funding could affect a “tremendous number of jobs.”</p>



<p>The decision to shelve certain statements — some of which do not violate grant agreements impacted by President Donald Trump’s executive order <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/06/23/harmeet-dhillon-civil-rights-donald-trump-san-francisco/">seeking to end DEI programs in the federal government</a>&nbsp; — suggests that the administration’s aggressive actions are having the intended chilling effect.</p>


Thanks, tariffs: Chinatown’s long-awaited makeover is delayed — again


<p>Delays in major San Francisco construction projects are nothing new. But this time, it&#8217;s global trade tensions and tariffs that are trickling down to affect daily life in Chinatown — specifically, at Portsmouth Square, often referred to as the neighborhood’s “living room.”</p>



<p>The long-awaited $71 million renovation of Portsmouth Square has hit another snag. The Recreation and Parks Department has announced that, due to unexpectedly high construction bids, the project will be rebid, resulting in a delay of at least five and a half months.</p>



<p>“The cost spike is tied to global tariffs, supply-chain slowdowns, and construction inflation,” said department spokesperson Tamara Aparton. “Rebidding now protects public dollars, keeps vital state and bond funding on the table, and avoids years of delay. Most importantly, it keeps the heart of the project intact.”</p>



<p>U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports were <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/11/tariff-china-us-san-francisco-chinatown/">as high as 145%</a> in April, but after both countries agreed to pause the trade war, the tariffs <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-says-china-tariffs-will-stay-high-two-days-talks-rcna212286">dropped to 55%</a>.</p>



<p>Initially slated to break ground in 2023 and be completed in 2025, construction at Portsmouth Square is now expected to begin after the 2026 Lunar New Year and the Chinatown parade. Officials estimate it could be complete in early 2028.</p>



<p>The engineering budget is $43 million, but the lowest bid received came in at $54.7 million. A new bidding process will open in September, with minor design tweaks to reduce costs while preserving the core of the project.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1462" width="2500" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/portsmouthaerial.jpeg?w=2500" alt="The image shows an urban park with green spaces, a playground, and a modern building with solar panels. People are walking and cars are on the surrounding streets." class="wp-image-411154" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/portsmouthaerial.jpeg 2554w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/portsmouthaerial.jpeg?resize=300,175 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/portsmouthaerial.jpeg?resize=768,449 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/portsmouthaerial.jpeg?resize=2500,1462 2500w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/portsmouthaerial.jpeg?resize=1536,899 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/portsmouthaerial.jpeg?resize=2048,1198 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Portsmouth Square will undergo a $71 million upgrade.</figcaption></figure>



<p>Aparton said those tweaks may include alternate materials or adjustments to nonessential elements like fencing, but key components — such as the expanded clubhouse, playground, shaded gathering spaces, rotating art wall, and cultural interpretation features — will remain unchanged.</p>



<p>Portsmouth Square has served as a vital social hub for generations of Chinese immigrants — a place to gather, play cards, and bring children to play. Its facilities have long struggled to meet the needs of a growing and aging population.</p>



<p>“The community has waited far too long,” said Anni Chung, CEO of Self Help for the Elderly. “Some of the people who fought for this project 20 years ago are no longer with us. How many 12-year cycles do we have in life?”</p>



<p>Chung said her organization plans to make use of the renovated clubhouse, which will be expanded to 7,000 square feet from the current 700.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-notorious-bridge">The ‘notorious’ bridge</h2>



<p>There is one unresolved issue: the fate of the so-called <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2023/01/23/we-finally-know-what-sfs-most-hated-bridge-will-soon-become/">bridge to nowhere</a> that connects the Chinese Culture Center in the Hilton hotel to Portsmouth Square above Kearny Street.</p>



<p>About $5 million of the renovation cost is tied to demolishing this bridge, but the city is negotiating with the Hilton over who will pay for it.</p>



<p>“While the city works through the bid process, we are separately continuing to negotiate the outstanding issues related to the allocation of demolition costs between the city and the Hilton,” said Jen Kwart, spokesperson for the city attorney’s office. “The bid process will proceed independently of the negotiations.”</p>



<p>The city is also coordinating with the Hilton on permits and plans to renovate the hotel’s façade after the bridge is removed.</p>



<p>Kwart and Aparton confirmed that the cost of the bridge removal will be included in the September bidding process, but that does not mean the city will pay for it.</p>



<p>A Hilton representative could not be reached for comment.</p>



<p>City officials emphasized the urgency of moving forward: Roughly $6 million in state funding is at risk of expiring in mid-2026 if not spent.</p>



<p>One other issue raised by community members involves the location of public restrooms near the Walter U. Lum Place corner — an area the <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2022/04/28/massive-asian-american-cultural-center-planned-near-portsmouth-square-chinatowns-living-room/">Chinatown Media &amp; Arts Collaborative</a> envisions as an ideal public gathering space. Some worry the restrooms could negatively impact that goal.</p>



<p>But there are unlikely to be any major design changes to the new park, as part of an effort to avoid another delay.</p>



<p>“We’ve already had so many meetings,” Chung said. “The longer we wait, the more expensive this will get.”</p>


This is why San Francisco’s budget is so screwed


<p>Cratered. Decimated. Tanked. Whatever word you use, the reality is the same.&nbsp;</p>



<p>San Francisco’s budget is screwed.</p>



<p>The deficit is an eye-watering $782 million out of a budget of $15.9 billion. Now, Mayor Daniel Lurie has the unenviable task of digging San Francisco out of that hole by slashing spending.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Lurie plans to balance critical priorities <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/27/san-francisco-budget-cuts-district-attorney-public-defender/">like public safety</a> while gutting the budgets of other city departments. Residents could see service cuts, and 1,000 city positions might be eliminated. More than 100 people may be laid off.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It’s not going to be pretty. The Board of Supervisors and the mayor’s office are mandated to agree on a balanced budget by the end of July.&nbsp;</p>



<p>So, how did we get here?&nbsp; Was it pandemic-era pain that cracked and emptied San Francisco’s piggy bank? Yes — but it’s more complicated than that.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sf-s-leaky-budget-was-patched-with-one-time-fixes">SF’s leaky budget was patched with one-time fixes</h2>



<p>If the city government doesn’t have the money, it can’t spend it.&nbsp;</p>



<p>During boom times, as valuable tech companies planted local roots and property values exploded, San Francisco’s annual budget grew steadily, topping $13 billion by 2021. Then the pandemic hit, emptying downtown, killing tourism, and worsening a structural gap between spending and revenue. Temporary relief came in the form of emergency funds from the federal government.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Last year, Mayor London Breed faced a similarly dire deficit. Downtown is the city’s economic engine. As vacancies rose, tax income fell. Breed could have begun paring down the size of government, lessening the pain by doing so gradually over years.&nbsp;</p>



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<p>Instead, she plugged the budget hole with one-time fixes to the tune of $1 billion, according to the controller’s office. It’s the budget equivalent of raiding your savings account to pay off your credit card debt, rather than trimming spending.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The controller’s <a href="https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/FY24-25_and_FY25-26_Revenue_Letter_FINAL.pdf">annual revenue letter</a>, an analysis of the mayor’s budget, tells the tale: Breed used $445 million in leftover funding from the previous year’s budget, $235 million in pandemic-era Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements, $138 million from the city’s fiscal reserve, and $137 million in short-term cost shifts, among other one-time uses, to forestall the worst.</p>



<p>“As one-time solutions are depleted, the structural budget gap will become larger, making future budgets more difficult to close,” the controller wrote.</p>



<p>Blame a political season in which budget cuts might’ve guaranteed losing the mayorship. Or blame rosy optimism, with Breed hoping she could forestall layoffs as a hollowed-out downtown revived itself.&nbsp;</p>



<p>No matter the reason, she bet big that the economy would recover. Spoiler alert: It didn’t.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-paying-workers-fairly-is-pricey">Paying workers fairly is pricey</h2>



<p>Breed’s contract negotiations with labor unions last year went surprisingly smoothly. There’s a reason for that: from visor-wearing clerks to meter maids, city workers got higher raises than expected. The cost of their benefits has risen, too.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Cynics pointed out that making unions happy was a sure bet to avoid messy public fights during a fraught election year. But in some ways, Breed’s hands were tied. Public workers&#8217; wage growth is tied to inflation, by city charter mandate, and if negotiations were taken to arbitration, that would be a key factor in handing them a win.</p>



<p>The city has added thousands of workers over the past decade, and the costs of employing them has grown, too. No one is saying people shouldn’t get raises, especially in pricey San Francisco. And workers’ spiraling healthcare costs <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/about/ama-research/trends-health-care-spending">are a national problem</a>. But city government spending is a balancing act. The money has to come from somewhere.</p>



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<p>The tools at Lurie’s disposal include generating revenue from putting tax measures on the ballot, using one-time funds while waiting for revenue to right-size, and laying off workers. Lurie has said — <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/01/23/daniel-lurie-san-francisco-mayor-budget-cuts/">repeatedly</a> — that he will not employ one-time fixes to balance the budget.&nbsp;</p>



<p>That’s why Lurie has signaled that for the first time in more than a decade, city workers may lose their jobs.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-property-owners-want-their-money-back">Property owners want their money back</h2>



<p>Sure, downtown businesses emptied out like a keg at a frat party, but the pandemic hurt our finances in other ways, too. As commercial landlords watched the rental market dry up, they <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2022/04/06/property-tax-assessments-covid-remote-work/">appealed to the city to lower their tax burdens</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Taxes are based on the property’s assessed value. A new assessment may mean lower taxes — a boon for owners but a pain point for the city. Property taxes are the city’s largest source of tax revenue, bringing in billions annually.</p>



<p>During economically stable times, there are 1,000 to 2,000 annual property value appeals, according to city data compiled by local think tank SPUR. But right now, there are a whopping 9,000 appeals pending. More than $217 million is being tucked away just to meet the demand of these appeals, according to SPUR.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-federal-government-stiffed-us">The federal government stiffed us</h2>



<p>San Francisco spent big on public health efforts during the pandemic. FEMA was on the hook to pay the city back, but it has been dragging its feet. In the latest revenue forecast, <a href="https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/March_Update_FY_25-26_through_FY_29-30_03.31.25_FINAL.pdf">from March</a>, the city controller projected that reimbursements for the 2025-26 financial year would be reduced from $147 million to $80 million. This week, the controller’s office confirmed to The Standard that the forecast was accurate.&nbsp;</p>



<p>It could get worse.&nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/10/san-francisco-lurie-budget-trump-2-billion/">Roughly $2 billion in federal spending</a> winds its way through San Francisco’s budget, and all of it is vulnerable to President Donald Trump’s whims. Lurie has pledged a $400 million reserve specifically to guard against federal meddling, <a href="https://missionlocal.org/2025/05/s-f-to-budget-400m-in-reserve-in-anticipation-of-federal-cuts/">Mission Local reported</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-numbers-are-worse-than-they-look">The numbers are worse than they look</h2>



<p>Many San Franciscans have at some time publicly bemoaned, “Why can’t the city pay for that thing we love with its $15 billion budget?”&nbsp;</p>



<p>It ain’t that simple. Most of San Francisco’s budget is legally locked into a specific purpose: immutable, unchangeable. The reasons vary.&nbsp;</p>



<p>For instance, roughly one-third of the budget is thought of as a “pass-through” from federal and state governments, <a href="https://www.spur.org/news/2025-05-20/balancing-san-franciscos-budget-part-2-revenues-and-expenditures">intended for a specific use</a>, like Medi-Cal. Another constraint is voter set-asides. These are the alphabet-soup ballot measures that voters approve regularly. These propositions run the gamut, ranging from a new tax that can be spent only on Free City college for residents to&nbsp; setting aside a certain amount of the general fund to bolster Muni as it hemorrhages riders.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Then there are the enterprise agencies, which raise their own money for internal use only. Those departments include the San Francisco International Airport, Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Those agencies add up to billions in the city’s budget.</p>



<p>Tally all that up, and only a scant 18% of the city’s budget, or $2.8 billion, is free for a mayor to sift about as needed —&nbsp;making plugging the $782 million deficit an even more challenging prospect.&nbsp;</p>


Supervisor Joel Engardio to face recall election over Proposition K controversy


<p>Supervisor Joel Engardio will face a special recall election Sept. 16 over his role in passing the controversial November ballot measure to close the Great Highway to cars.</p>



<p>The Department of Elections on Thursday announced that it had finished the signature verification process and found that the campaign to recall Engardio had submitted 10,523 valid signatures. That surpassed the threshold of at least 9,911 valid signatures — representing 20% of registered voters in Engardio&#8217;s District 4 — needed to trigger the special election.</p>



<p>&#8220;With the petition deemed sufficient, the department will proceed with preparations for a special municipal election,&#8221; the city agency said in a statement.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="1474" width="2500" src="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8728968100_greathighwaytraffic_010_494722.jpg?w=2500" alt="The image shows an aerial view of a road with cyclists and people walking, casting long shadows on the pavement. There's vegetation lining the road." class="wp-image-388700" srcset="https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8728968100_greathighwaytraffic_010_494722.jpg 3675w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8728968100_greathighwaytraffic_010_494722.jpg?resize=300,177 300w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8728968100_greathighwaytraffic_010_494722.jpg?resize=768,453 768w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8728968100_greathighwaytraffic_010_494722.jpg?resize=2500,1474 2500w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8728968100_greathighwaytraffic_010_494722.jpg?resize=1536,906 1536w, https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/8728968100_greathighwaytraffic_010_494722.jpg?resize=2048,1208 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Residents launched the recall over Engardio&#8217;s support for a ballot measure that shut down a stretch of the Great Highway to cars.</figcaption></figure>



<p>The recall effort is largely driven by controversy over Proposition K, a ballot measure Engardio championed to close the Great Highway and convert the two-mile stretch of concrete into a park. Prop. K was a citywide ballot measure, but the special recall election will be limited to District 4, which largely includes the Sunset.</p>



<p>Jamie Hughes, the recall campaign leader, said the number of valid signatures shows that Sunset residents are outraged over the highway&#8217;s closure and want better representation in City Hall.</p>



<p>In a statement, Engardio acknowledged that while the park, which opened this spring as Sunset Dunes, has become a popular destination, traffic issues and pedestrian safety remain top concerns for the Sunset community. But he emphasized that recalling him will not reopen the Great Highway.</p>



<p>“I’m confident that Sunset voters will see through this recall,” he said. “I hear every day from residents who are tired of distractions and appreciate having a supervisor who shows up and delivers.”</p>



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<p>The Prop. K debate has been one of the most divisive in San Francisco in recent years. Though the measure passed with more than 55% of the vote citywide, most of the support came from east-side neighborhoods farther from the highway.</p>



<p>Prop. K faced fierce opposition on the west side, where many residents — especially drivers — expressed concerns about traffic and argued that the measure was put on the ballot without adequate community input.</p>



<p>The fight has exacerbated an ongoing rift between urbanists, cyclists, and environmentalists who want to see greater access to green spaces, and many west-side and suburban residents who rely on cars — and, previously, the highway — to move around town.</p>



<p>Led by Engardio, the Board of Supervisors voted last year to put Prop. K on the ballot as a citywide measure. Engardio faced criticism for his decision to put the measure to all city voters, rather than leaving it to the west side as a neighborhood issue.</p>



<p>The recall effort began months before the election, when Engardio introduced the idea of turning the Great Highway into a park. At the time, residents threatened to recall him if he didn’t withdraw the ballot measure. But Engardio has long argued that the Great Highway is under threat from coastal erosion and that a park would be a great benefit to the city.</p>



<p>After the measure passed in November, Sunset residents <a href="https://sfstandard.com/2024/12/03/recall-campaign-joel-engardio-prop-k-great-highway/">launched the recall campaign</a> and began collecting signatures in January.</p>



<p>Since its opening in April, Sunset Dunes supporters have touted the coastal park as a major success. Tens of thousands have visited, according to the city&#8217;s Recreation and Parks Department.</p>



<p>&#8220;Change is hard, and even more so when climate change is forcing our hand,&#8221; Engardio said. &#8220;I understand that Sunset Dunes represents a tough change for some in our community, but early data is clear: The park is supporting the rehabilitation of the coastal dunes, it’s bringing new customers to local businesses, and it’s providing a popular space for generations of people to enjoy walking, biking, and nature.&#8221;</p>



<p>Lucas Lux, president of Friends of Sunset Dunes and a strong ally of Engardio, said the park is supported by thousands of Sunset neighbors.</p>



<p>&#8220;We’re proud of the park our community brought to life,&#8221; Lux said in a statement. “We&#8217;re grateful to Supervisor Engardio for his political courage.”</p>



<p>The September recall election marks the third serious attempt to remove an elected official from office in San Francisco in recent years, following successful school board and district attorney recalls in 2022.</p>


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