Opinion: Joel Engardio betrayed District 4

Joel Engardio’s tenure as Supervisor of District 4 has been marked by a pattern of betrayal. During his campaign, he promised to keep the compromise of the Great Highway as a shared space that most neighbors supported. Yet a year later into his term, he clandestinely drafted a ballot measure with a handful of people to reverse that very compromise, closing the Great Highway for park use and ignoring the overwhelming majority wishes of his own constituents.

The most troubling aspect is the level of secrecy and deception he employed. He concealed his intentions from his own staff, local small businesses and even fellow supervisors in order to persuade them to support his plan. This duplicity erodes public trust and undermines the integrity and respect required for elected office.

District 4 residents deserve leadership guided by openness and accountability. We already see this happening at the federal level and in other state governments, we deserve much better.

Engardio also has a pattern of taking credit for grassroots successes. The Irving Street Night Market originated as an idea long before Engardio came into office by neighborhood groups. Though he did little to organize the event, he later claimed credit when reporters asked about its popularity, which incensed so many that helped make the event possible.

This self-aggrandizing degrades the participatory nature of community and ruins respect towards leadership. Our community cannot accept public officials who place self-promotion above genuine collaboration.

Engardio’s opportunism extends even further. He claims his Proposition G would bring back Algebra 1 to 8th grade, but in truth, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) had this already under development. He timed his ballot measure so he could claim it as his success for schools. However, the Board of Supervisors has no control over SFUSD.

At the end of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Taraval Project, he claimed he secured $1M to compensate Taraval merchants for losses they incurred during the construction, but that was in fact achieved by Mayor London Breed’s office and the Office of Small Business.

Even initiatives that should benefit local commerce have become vehicles for his agenda. On Sept. 17, 2024, Engardio organized an “End of Taraval Night Market” along the Great Highway at the west end of Taraval without consulting or inviting the People of Parkside Sunset, Taraval’s merchant association.

This was at a time when small businesses were struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and the SFMTA Taraval Project losses. Instead, he brought in outside vendors, diverting customer traffic away from district merchants while using this event with public funds to promote “Yes on Proposition K” rather than supporting the local economy.

Finally, we cannot overlook the questionable influence of extremely wealthy out-of-district donors. Engardio accepted five- to six-figure donations from billionaires who do not reside in District 4 and whose priorities conflict with the values of our neighborhood.

Recently, when asked why he closed the Upper Great Highway, he casually suggested that demographic shifts would render the issue irrelevant in a few years. This was a cold and callous dismissal of multigenerational families who define this community. He implies that the old will die off and be replaced by another different set of folks with a different set of values.

Engardio lost touch with the fact that people moved here, have always moved here, raising their families here, loving what the “Avenues” represents – a suburban vibe, a safe neighborhood, multigenerational families, good schools and open spaces. That has not changed in almost 100 years and is not changing anytime soon.

Engardio’s record reveals a consistent pattern of secrecy, self-interest and misrepresentation. It is not about “one mistake,” but a fundamental disregard for the community he was elected to serve.

Sure, he is filling potholes and knocking on doors now, but for the past year, Engardio has shown his face little in public and when he does, he is often booed off. Why? Because when you know in your heart you have betrayed the community, you are ashamed to be in public. The community that sees you and disrespects you because you are not the leader they thought they supported.

For the sake of District 4 and for the sake of our democracy, Joel Engardio must be recalled.

*Albert Chow is a San Francisco native who has lived in the Sunset District for 49 years. He is also the owner of the Great Wall Hardware on Taraval Street for 42 years. He represents the Recall Engardio 2025 campaign.