By Vanguard Staff
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A coalition of transit and housing advocates sent a letter to Mayor Daniel Lurie on Monday urging him to appoint a District 4 supervisor who will commit to protecting critical transit funding measures and not support a ballot measure to repeal Proposition K and dismantle Sunset Dunes.
The groups warned that a Sunset Dunes ballot measure could threaten two major transit revenue proposals planned for November 2026: a five-county regional sales tax and a local parcel tax.
“Bringing this measure back to the ballot will only distract us from the necessary work we need to do to preserve public transportation, and spend scarce city time and resources on an issue that nature will eventually decide for us anyway,” the letter stated. “San Francisco needs an appointee committed to collaborative governance and forward-looking solutions that serve all San Franciscans, rather than stoking old grievances.”
The letter noted that Supervisor Connie Chan has already expressed interest in pursuing a repeal of Proposition K, which created Sunset Dunes in 2024. The new District 4 supervisor could be the deciding fourth vote required to place the measure on the ballot.
Robin Pam, executive director of Streets For All San Francisco, said the city cannot afford to risk transit funding at such a critical time. “We are urging Mayor Lurie to appoint a supervisor who will work to build bridges as we go to the ballot to support Muni and BART in 2026. If Muni is gutted, all San Franciscans will suffer,” she said.
Jane Natoli, organizing director for SF YIMBY, stressed the link between housing and transit. “At SF YIMBY, we are well aware that housing and transportation are intrinsically linked,” she said. “We cannot meet our housing goals as a city and truly become a more affordable, welcoming place without a world-class transit system. We encourage Mayor Lurie to appoint someone who gets this link and supports our need to create sustainable funding for our transit.”
Proposition K passed in 2024 with 55 percent of the vote, and Sunset Dunes has since become one of the city’s most popular parks. The southern extension of the Great Highway will soon close permanently due to climate change, erosion, and threats to the city’s wastewater infrastructure. Advocates said the park has proven successful, with thousands of people using it and nearby businesses benefitting, while predicted traffic gridlock never materialized.
The advocates stressed that fighting over Sunset Dunes could sap momentum from the broader campaign to secure long-term transit funding. “The effort to save Muni and BART is going to be an all-hands on deck moment — and we are the many hands that will be talking to voters at bus stops, attending community meetings, and knocking on doors all across the Bay Area,” the coalition wrote. “If our work is diluted because we are forced to spend months defending Sunset Dunes, we will lose momentum and fall behind in our efforts to secure long-term funding for BART and Muni.”
The letter was signed by ten organizations, including Streets For All San Francisco, SF YIMBY, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Walk San Francisco, Outer Sunset Neighbors, San Francisco Transit Riders, Livable City, Transform, the Transbay Coalition, and Seamless Bay Area.
The coalition concluded by urging Mayor Lurie to appoint a supervisor who will not sign on to a repeal of Prop K. They argued the appointee must demonstrate collaborative and results-driven leadership in line with the mayor’s commitment to regional transportation coordination.
The full text of the letter is available at this link.
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Before running an article like this, you probably should first announce that the “open” supervisor position is the direct result of a successful recall in regard to the previous incumbent who supported the closure of the Great Highway to motor vehicle traffic. (Which appears to be the sole reason for the recall effort.)
Approximately 65% of voters supported his removal.
https://abc7news.com/post/supervisor-joel-engardio-recall-election-support-great-highway-closure-underway-san-franciscos-sunset-district/17828524/
Some might argue that closing the Great Highway was not “transit-friendly” in the first place, in regard to the purest definition of that phrase (“transit”).
Transit: “the carrying of people, goods, or materials from one place to another.”
https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/
I do not want to see BART and Muni gutted, but this is the same basic issue as Measure Q. BART has the most insanely inflated wages of any transit system in the country, due to the influence of the public union. This has to be cracked. BART and Muni need to be funded out of general taxes so that the gov’t will be forced to make them efficient. The ballot measures aren’t pro-transit, they are bail-outs from decades of public union giveaways due to the perverted incentives that public unions create. Muni and BART cannot fail, but the politicians have to bite down hard on the bullet, not expect another public bail out.