Did S.F. moderates ‘rile up' Chinese Americans on recalls only to abandon them?

San Francisco Chronicle​

04-05-2025

It was billed as a press conference by the Chinese American Democratic Club, but it was more of an unload session on San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio, whom the group is trying to recall.
The anger was palpable from those speaking at the April 22 event who repeatedly called Engardio a 'liar' who failed to represent his constituents in the Sunset District.
'We have to recall this man and get us a person that truly represents the Sunset,' small-business owner and club member Albert Chow said.
At issue: the permanent, 24/7 closure of the Upper Great Highway to car traffic. Chinese American Democratic Club members said Engardio betrayed and surprised them by becoming the lead proponent for closing the Great Highway after earlier supporting a 2021 compromise worked out by his predecessor, Gordon Mar, for reopening the road to cars on weekdays after it had been closed during the pandemic.
'Supervisor Joel Engardio has shown us time and time again that he isn't a leader,' Chinese American Democratic Club spokesperson Julia Quon said.
If that rhetoric sounds familiar, it should.
West side voters, many of them Chinese American, were a driving force behind recalls of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three school board members in 2022. The Chinese Democratic Club, a citywide organization, endorsed both recalls. Most of these same voters put their trust in Engardio, who supported the recalls; the more progressive Mar did not.
Engardio rode this populist wave to a slim victory over Mar in 2022 in the District 4 race. It was an election year that was also a referendum on San Francisco's liberal politics, with the recalls generating millions from wealthy political donors seeking to push the city's government to the political center.
Now Engardio is the target of a populist revolt, though it's not drawing the same political firepower as the Boudin and school board recalls.
'You would have hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not a million bucks, going into the effort to recall a progressive-leaning supervisor,' said political consultant David Ho, who worked on Mar's campaign.
The campaign opposed to Engardio's recall received $382,325 in donations this year through April 15, including $125,000 from Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman; the recall signature drive campaign has received $67,535 during the same period, according to city political campaign disclosure records.
Ho said it's troubling to see tech oligarchs and other big political donors 'rile up' Chinese Americans for the district attorney and school board recall but not support the community on other issues.
'Money-wise, yeah, we're not pulling in the $300,000, $400,000 that Joel is,' Vin Budhai, a lead recall campaign organizer, said in an interview. 'But people-wise, that's what this campaign is built on, volunteer power, and it's working.'
Recalling Engardio is an effort run by 'volunteers for and by District 4 residents' and 'that sort of funding from our local community is just as important,' Quon said in an interview.
Politically, however, this recall effort is different: Keeping Engardio on the Board of Supervisors maintains the moderate majority that's been crafted in the past few elections, which is probably why many of the groups that backed previous recall efforts have stayed quiet or are supporting Engardio.
'Ideologically, Supervisor Engardio has been aligned with groups like ours and with many other more moderate political organizations out there,' said Cyn Wang, a board member of the Westside Family Democratic Club, which opposes the recall and endorsed Prop K.
Wang co-founded the club after the Boudin and school board recalls, which she supported and said galvanized many club members to get involved in politics. Wang said Engardio is 'an ally to us' and disagreeing with his support for Prop K 'doesn't rise to the level of a recall.'
The fight over the Great Highway shares similarities to political battles from two decades ago when the elevated Embarcadero and Central freeways were torn down over the opposition of many Chinese Americans in Chinatown and the west side over concerns about neighborhood access and traffic.
'That was sort of the first time that west side Chinese organized and actually flexed their muscle at the ballot box,' Ho said. 'But ultimately they did lose.'
Several speakers at the Chinese American Democratic Club's press conference echoed the past feelings of being ignored, saying the recall was a way to make their concerns heard by their representatives.
Until Prop K, it didn't seem like Engardio could draw much scorn. He's mostly worked to support issues important to his constituents, like bringing algebra classes back to middle schools. The Sunset Night Market he championed has been popular, and he's worked to address homelessness and crime in the neighborhood.
'I don't think he predicted such a strong outcome against leading the effort' on Prop K, Ho said.
The campaign to oust Engardio has until May 22 to gather 10,000 signatures of District 4 residents to place a recall measure on the November ballot. If it makes the ballot and Engardio is voted out, Mayor Daniel Lurie would choose someone to fill the remainder of the term, which ends in January 2027.
If that happens, all the anger will just give District 4 residents a new supervisor a year earlier than otherwise possible, and the newly named Sunset Dunes Park will still be there on the closed Great Highway.
I don't agree with many of my neighbors and support closing the Great Highway, and I worry that the recall will be a waste of their growing political capital.
Recall proponents say they want a supervisor who will represent the community's interests. About 40% of the west side's population is Asian American, mostly Chinese. Instead of being just used as a political cash 'ATM,' as Ho put it, let's get more Asian American candidates, who have been in short supply lately, running for office — moderates, progressives and even conservatives. That's more democratic than a recall.