San Francisco officials celebrate opening of Sunset Dunes as controversy remains
On Saturday, San Francisco officials celebrated the opening of the newest city park on what used to be the Great Highway next to Ocean Beach. However, the controversy surrounding it remains as the city hurries to establish the park as quickly as possible.
In November, voters approved Measure K, closing the Great Highway to traffic, but at the time there was no money or even a real plan for the park they wanted to replace it. Now, just five months later, they proclaimed it to be "opening day."
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Sunset Dunes," announced Rec and Park General Manager, Phil Ginsburg.
That's the new name of the park--Sunset Dunes--chosen from suggestions sent in by the public. But that's not the only input the public had in turning what was, for about a century, a major vehicle corridor, into a place to walk and ride bicycles.
"That's what I voted for," said Measure K supporter Lidia Eng. "I voted for a place that can be open. Because we just need more space for the kids to just roam around, play around, stuff like that."
"No matter how you voted at the ballot five months ago, come on out and enjoy the park," said Ginsburg. "You know, the election happened. Now it's a park. And we want this park to work for this community."
But it doesn't work for many living in the area. As a compromise, the highway had been closed on weekends for recreation since the pandemic.
But neighbors complained that shutting down the road completely would make getting to their homes more difficult and divert weekday commute traffic onto their streets.
Stephen Gorski, whose home overlooks the Great Highway, has been a vocal critic of the plan to close the road permanently.
"The Park people basically put out a statement saying, 'I know everybody's had their differences about this, but now you have to come together and celebrate this with us.' I'm not in the mood to celebrate this," he said.
There is still a lot of anger over the city-wide vote and, during Saturday's ceremony, a small car caravan circled the block promoting a recall attempt against the area's supervisor, Joel Engardio, who came out in support of Measure K.
But Sasha Pixlee, who lives just a few blocks away, disagreed with the protestors in the caravan.
"They complain that traffic's a problem and what are they doing?" he said. "I mean, I think it's just very selfish. Adding a little time to your commute versus this (park)? It seems a very easy tradeoff."
But despite Saturday's large, festive turnout, the neighbors aren't giving up. They've filed a lawsuit over the way Measure K was put on the ballot and a court hearing is scheduled for June 3rd.
Which may be why "opening day" was rushed into place by the city even though Sunset Dunes still has no funding and, except for some new pieces of art and a bike play area, most plans for the park are still simply concepts.
"And that's what's so silly," said Gorski. "They'll have a decision in less than two months. If the judge says Prop K was illegal, then it has to be reverted to the compromise. I think they're trying to think we're stupid, that they're going to say, 'Well, we spent all this money and put art and did everything' No!"
But despite the objections, the voters have spoken. And as the city scrambles to create a park as quickly as possible, a judge will have to decide whether putting a halt to it is worth overturning an election.
