Engardio recall proponents allege covered-up meeting

Proponents of the effort to oust gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio have a message for him with weeks to go in the campaign – resign now. The resignation demand comes after one prominent supporter of the recall, Richard Corriea, filed an official sunshine complaint alleging a May 2024 meeting on the Outer Sunset supervisor’s calendar was unlawfully redacted.

A special election to recall the embattled supervisor will be held September 16.

“Those of us who harken back to the Watergate era remember,” Corriea, a retired San Francisco Police Department commander, said, comparing Engardio to Richard Nixon, the only U.S. president to resign. “Why did Nixon have a one-hour gap on his tapes? Here, Joel has a 60-minute gap. … He should resign today.”

Engardio himself did not reply to the Bay Area Reporter’s request for comment about the call for his resignation.

But asked about the meeting allegations, Engardio campaign spokesperson Joe Arellano responded with a picture of a man in a tin foil hat, with the text, “You can say I sent this as my response.” 

He then sent a picture of a dictionary definition of tin foil hat, which states, “Used when talking about people who believe in conspiracy theories (the belief that events or situations are the result of secret plans by powerful people)”

The B.A.R. double-checked this was an on the record response.

Arellano also responded in lieu of Engardio regarding the calls that the supervisor resign, stating, "These people are tin foil hat conspiracy theorists. Next, they are going to ask Joel to release alien footage from Roswell and evidence that we actually landed on the moon."

Engardio is the first LGBTQ board member to win a district centered on the city’s western neighborhoods. Having run three times prior for the District 7 seat centered around West Portal, Engardio found himself redistricted in 2021 into District 4 represented then by former supervisor Gordon Mar, whom he ousted from office a year later. 

Engardio had risen to prominence amid the 2022 voter revolt centered in the Sunset district that helped recall San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin and three members of the city’s school board. That November, Engardio became the first supervisor to unseat a sitting elected incumbent since district elections were re-introduced in 2000.

Now, though, his political future is at stake. The contentious issue that led to the recall was last year’s Proposition K, which permanently closed a portion of the Upper Great Highway to vehicle traffic. Engardio said during his 2022 campaign for supervisor that he supported a compromise that would leave the Great Highway open to cars on weekdays. 

As an elected official, Engardio supported Prop K, which closed the highway and created Sunset Dunes Park that opened this spring. While Prop K passed citywide, precincts in Engardio’s district voted heavily against it. Following the implementation of Prop K, which is currently being challenged in court, Sunset residents got a recall on the ballot after they turned in 10,523 signatures from registered voters in District 4. (A minimum of 9,911 valid signatures were needed, according to the Department of Elections.)

Asked about his 2022 statements by the B.A.R. earlier this year, Engardio pointed to his campaign website that year, which stated he supported the possibility of a park between Lincoln Avenue and Sloat Boulevard. He also said that he "supported the compromise in 2022 because that was the best we had in the moment."

According to Corriea’s complaint, in March 2025, when he received a copy of Engardio’s calendar, there were three meetings listed with Lucas Lux, who is now president of Friends of Sunset Dunes, an affinity group connected with the park that replaced the Great Highway. These occurred March 18, June 17, and July 18, 2024. 

However, Corriea wasn’t the first person who’d asked to see Engardio’s calendar. An October 2024 request had also been made by an unnamed person and was shared with Corriea. This version showed a May 28 meeting from 11 a.m. to noon between Engardio, Lux, and Todd David, who is now political director for Abundant SF and was a former political director for gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) when Wiener was running for state Senate.

Otto Pippenger, a field director for the recall, told the B.A.R., "The person who requested the first calendar has said they don't want to be publicly identified."

At noon there was listed on all versions of Engardio’s calendar, according to the complaint, a meeting with Dan Jimenez, who is a developer working on the 2700 Sloat project, a now-shelved venture to create over 400 apartments in a 22-story tower near the San Francisco Zoo. The couple behind that project has since filed for bankruptcy, the San Francisco Standard reported in early July.

According to the complaint, the May 28 meeting with Lux and David was redacted from Engardio’s official calendar as it was released to Corriea.

“Notably, this altered version was released during the early stages of a grassroots effort against Supervisor Engardio, and at a time when public disclosure of a meeting with Mr. Lux and Mr. David – shortly before a meeting with the developer of a controversial Sunset District high-rise – may have been politically damaging to Supervisor Engardio,” the complaint states.

Prop K was greenlit for ballot access by the Board of Supervisors in June 2024.

The complaint requests an investigation into the alleged misconduct. Corriea alleged that Engardio “and a small number of collaborators met in secret and without the collaboration of District 4 residents to create a very different Sunset district.”

Quentin L. Kopp, a former San Francisco supervisor, San Mateo County Superior Court judge, and a 1979 candidate for San Francisco mayor against the late mayor and U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein, also spoke at the July 31 event.

“He has tried to cover up a meeting … which pertains with relevance to the September 16 election,” Kopp said. “There’s no question about it … This should be the subject not only of the ethics commission, but also action by the city attorney, resulting in court-ordered restitution” to Engardio’s constituents.

Albert Chow, president of the neighborhood organization People of Parkside Sunset and owner of Great Wall Hardware, also spoke, saying, “I think Judge Kopp, you are far too kind a gentleman.”

“He should leave,” Chow said, referring to Engardio. “He really should at this point. We thought some people met in secret and now we’re aware it’s just a few people. … He should save the taxpayers and the people of San Francisco, and himself, the torture of being removed from office.”

Lux stated to the B.A.R. July 31, "Park opponents are trying to make a story out of nothing to distract from the fact that Sunset Dunes is popular and traffic hasn't changed much. The truth is, we met with Supervisors Gordon Mar and Joel Engardio for five years to advocate for a park. Park opponents met with them for five years to advocate against a park. All of those meetings are public information and not secret."

David didn't return a request for comment.

Updated, 7/31/25: This article has been updated.