San Francisco Proposition K was a ballot initiative to close the Great Highway roadway shown above and turn into to a park. Some of the roadway to the south (at the top of the picture) was going to close anyway as it is washing away into the Pacific Ocean, but the section north of that part would still be usable. The Asian American neighborhoods of the Sunset and Richmond next to the roadway and who used it were largely opposed, saying it would move even more traffic through their residential neighborhoods, but Joel Engardio, the Supervisor representing the Sunset, was supported the closure proposition. In last November’s election, while those Asian American neighborhoods voted against the proposition, but San Francisco as a whole voted for it. As this article points out, this is part of longer history of Chinese American voters of San Francisco being ignored regarding road closures. Some voters in the Sunset are angry enough to start a recall drive against their Supervisor for his stance, saying that he did not represent them.
Some of the proponents of Proposition K compared it to the tearing down of the Embarcadero freeway after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, saying “No one remembers any objections to it. This has been a contentious issue, but I am confident that years from now, we are all gonna all look back and say, ‘Why was this even controversial?’” Chinese Americans in San Francisco do remember that and objected to the closing, saying it will hurt access to Chinatown businesses. Some Chinatown residents blame the closing for the decline of local business there. Chinatown residents were promised a subway line as compensation. It was opened more than 30 years after the earthquake.
Although I have lived in the Bay Area for most of my life, I really didn’t know about that history. I knew about the impact of the Cypress Freeway. Other roadway additions have destroyed communities of color, such as Stockton Manilatown being destroyed by Highway 4 construction or the widening of Geary Boulevard in San Francisco evicting thousands of Black and Japanese American families, but I hadn’t realized that there were objections to road closures.
I do have mixed feelings on both those road closures. The Embarcadero freeway was really an eye sore, and it looks much better now. Tearing it down did revitalize the water front, although at a cost borne by Chinatown residents. I like more park land, but I have used the Great Highway a fair amount, and I really feel for the residents and have experienced the traffic through the neighborhoods on the days that the roadway is closed.
While the recall efforts against Supervisor Engardio is under way, local observers say that it is not likely to succeed as it is not backed by local billionaires like the last big San Francisco recall election.
(photo credit: Pi.1415926535 licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)
